One in Nineteen
by orangezauber
Summary: Elena finds photos of a girl Stefan says was his friend/fiance, Hattie Whitworth, from 1864. When Jenna's friend, Ally, returns, Elena and Stefan begin to wonder if Hattie and Ally are the same person. But how can Ally be Hattie if she still has a heartbeat? Why is she so close with Sheila Bennett? And why has Damon decided to follow her every move? Slightly AU; begins season 1x17
1. Chapter 1: Strange Photos

**A/N: Hi everyone! I have been absent from the whole fanfiction writing scene for a while, but I thought I would try writing a Vampire Diaries story on top of my other projects. Feel free to leave a review and tell me your thoughts! Enjoy!**

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**One in Nineteen**

**Chapter 1**

**Strange Photos**

Elena stared at the pictures that fell out of one of Stefan's diaries from the book shelf in his bedroom. The girl in Stefan's arms looked really familiar to Elena. The girl looked about Stefan's age and the two of them were both wearing clothing one might find in the mid 1800's. Her hair was a lighter shade of brown coming off her head in soft waves. Even with the black, white, and faded yellow of the photo, Elena could tell her eyes were a light color; perhaps blue or green.

Taking her eyes briefly off of the two figures, Elena flipped to the second photo in the stack. Again, it was Stefan with the same girl. The photo was faded like the first one with the same 1800's style clothing. However, this time the girl had her head tilted up towards Stefan. Both had small smiles as they looked into each other's face. It was strange to see people smiling in pictures this old. It was obvious they meant something to each other.

The rest of the photos in the stack were similar as the first, always Stefan and the familiar looking girl. Why did she look so familiar? Elena swore she had seen this girl before, but that was impossible because the pictures were taken over 145 years ago. She could be a vampire, but Elena was sure she would remember if Stefan or even Damon introduced another vampire living in Mystic Falls.

"What are these," Elena whispered out loud.

"These were my engagement photos."

Elena jumped. She turned to see Stefan right behind her. She had not heard her come in, but then again she usually never heard Stefan enter a room because of his vampire stealth. "You were engaged? How come you never told me?"

"It was a long time ago and my father arranged it," Stefan said as he flipped to a photo in the center of the pile and showed it to Elena. It was a picture of him holding the girl's ring clad hand. She was looking down at the ring with a smile not quite reaching her eyes, but showing she was happy just the same. The Stefan in the picture was looking slightly down towards the girls face.

"He arranged for you to be married when you were, what, only 17 years old," Elena asked as she studied the picture Stefan was holding out to her.

"Well, marriage laws were different back then. It wasn't uncommon for parents to arrange marriage for their children to ensure a continuation of the family line. It often didn't matter if the couple was in love. As long as they came from similar backgrounds, they were usually found to be a fit match."

"Who is she? She can't be more than 16 or 17."

"Her name was Hattie Whitworth and she was ending her 16th year when our engagement was announced. We were to marry on her 18th birthday. A year engagement was on the longer end of engagements, but the wedding was meant to be the event of the year so our parents wanted plenty of time to plan," Stefan explained as he continued to look through the stack, remembering the day the he and Hattie posed for the photos. "These were taken a little less than a year before our marriage was set to happen…"

_"Father, must we take another one," Stefan asked with his arms still around Hattie, who was swaying back and forth watching the hem of her green and white day gown in boredom. Stefan knew she hated wearing fancier clothing. Hattie preferred simple and comfortable dresses which allowed her to freely move or least of all breath. Hattie only fidgeted when she wore more elaborate dresses to show off her status._

_ "Yes, my son," Giuseppe Salvatore replied with a sharp nod. "We are starting a tradition for our future family…your future family. We want to ensure they see just how advanced we are and how happy the two of you are. Now, Hattie, stop squirming so we can manage a good engagement photo for the two of you."_

_ Hattie looked up at the man, who would be her future father-in-law, before she halted her movements. "My apologies, Mr. Salvatore."_

_ "Father, why did you not give Damon the same consideration. Is it not typical for the eldest of the family to wed first," Stefan asked releasing his hold on his betrothed. "Why is he not the one getting married considering he is older than both Hattie and myself?"_

_ Giuseppe sighed. "Your brother's situation is far different that yours. He would hardly listen to what I have to say let alone allow me to arrange a marriage for him. Plus, Hattie is of your age Stefan. You would think that with all of the time you spend together you would be pleased with the match. You do enjoy Hattie, do you not?"_

_ "We do enjoy each other's company, sir," Hattie intervened, licking her lips nervously. She knew it was frowned upon to talk back to a father figure, but she knew Stefan was just as unhappy with the idea of marriage as she."It's just…I would have liked to travel a bit before getting married. It has always been a dream of mine to see the world before settling down. Perhaps we would wait a year or two before making any sort of marriage arrangements."_

_ "Traveling is not proper for a lady of your age, Miss Whitworth," Giuseppe scolded the young girl in front of him. The two teens knew when he used Hattie's sur name that he was upset. "Now, hold still so that we may finish at a reasonable hour. And I will tolerate no more talk of postponement. We are going through with this wedding."_

_ "Yes, Sir," the two teenagers murmured. Stefan slightly pinched Hattie through the ribbing of her dress. She gave a small shriek of surprise, but smiled when she saw the playful look in his eyes. They knew after the photos were finished they would be able to change out of their uncomfortable clothing into more normal daywear and run in the garden until Hattie's mother arrived for dinner._

"That must have been horrible to get married on your birthday," Elena commented causing Stefan to come out of his ravine. "Why would they pick such a date?"

"Birthdays weren't such a big deal as they are now. A wedding, on the other hand, was something of a celebration. Their excuse for picking Hattie's birthday was they always had perfect weather," Stefan recalled with a shake of his head. "It always seemed a little ridiculous to me."

"So I'm curious, what happened? Because I am sensing that the engagement didn't last very long?"

Stefan gave Elena a look and wiggled his right hand, showing off his daylight ring.

"Right. I forgot about that," Elena laughed nervously. "Turning into a vampire would put a damper on an engagement and marriage, I guess."

"Yeah, well the demise of the engagement actually started with Katherine. She arrived at my family's house about a month after the photo session with Hattie. If there was one thing I learned about Katherine, it was she always wanted what she could not have. And because I was off the market she wanted me…desperately." Stefan dropped the photos back on his desk and stood by the window as he continued his tale. "She tried her hardest to break up the engagement all the while trying to remain in my father's good graces. I didn't mind at the time, about Katherine pushing her way in. I was enamored by her fun nature and beauty. I was convinced I was in love with her and that is what I wanted…love.

_"Come along, Stefan, I wanted to have you show me the fireflies in the garden before my mother comes to take me home," Hattie said, tugging gently on Stefan's sleeve._

_ "I was told to wait for Miss Katherine," Stefan replied, staring longingly up the staircase where he knew Katherine was currently residing. _

_ "Stefan, please. You promised," Hattie whispered as she continued to slightly tug on Stefan's sleeve. "Please, don't break another promise to me."_

_ "Hattie," Stefan sighed turning to his friend. He saw that she had tears in her eyes ready to spill over but he paid no attention. "Just because we are being forced into a marriage does not mean that we have to spend every moment together. If you want to watch the fireflies, then go out to the garden yourself."_

_ "Why are you speaking so harshly to me," Hattie quietly asked with tears threatening to spill. "You were the one that suggested we do this in the first place. If you did not want to spend the time with me than you would have spoken up earlier, instead of breaking an agreement."_

_ Stefan sighed again. "Katherine has gotten me thinking, Hattie. She has told me that I should not settle for what is forced upon me, that I should marry for love rather than connivance. I must admit, what she says breeds truth. Wouldn't you rather marry for love than marry because our parents said that we were a good match?"_

_ "Yes, of course, but—"_

_ "And that is what I intend on doing for myself…marrying for love." As soon as Stefan had said the last part of his sentence, his face broke out into a brilliant smile. He was looking up at Katherine Pierce with a look of pure bliss and happiness…a look of possible love._

"Her selfishness never bothered me because she compelled me to see past it. Eventually, I was also convinced by Katherine to not go through the marriage because Hattie and I didn't want to marry each other. Katherine found that out and it made it all too easy for her to rip us apart. Hattie was one of my best friends and I pushed her away much to the displeasure of my father."

Elena looked up at Stefan. His eyes were swimming with regret. It was obvious he still cared for the girl, Hattie, even after all these years. "Why would you pick Katherine over her? Hattie looks like a really nice girl and very pretty."

"She was. And she had a really great personality. She was sweet and kind, had a bit of a sarcastic streak, but only allowed Damon or me to see it. She knew her place in society, but always knew how to make me and Damon laugh when we were away from the prying ears of our parents. I did love her, but it wasn't the type of love either of us wanted in order to get married. It was the type of love you feel for either Bonnie or Carolyn; the type of love you only feel for a close friend. Plus I was compelled by Katherine. I had no choice, but to push Hattie away."

"What happened to her?"

"See, that's the thing. I have no idea what happened. I couldn't very well check up on her on a regular basis because I was so involved in blood lust that I was afraid I might hurt her. I may not have loved her the way that our parents intended us to be, but she was one of my very good friends at the time. I did see her off and on following the years after I turned. This included the day was would have been our wedding, her 18th birthday, but that was one of the last time I actually saw her. After that it became harder to find her and then it was like she completely disappeared. No one was supposed to know I was alive so I couldn't ask anyone in town where she had gone."

"You mentioned she was friends with Damon as well. Do you know if Damon kept track of her?"

"Not that I know of. He was pretty hung up on Katherine at the time to even pay attention to much else. I know Hattie felt something for Damon, though. I would always find the two of them together in the garden, just talking.

"I remember seeing Hattie the night I died. She was there, but like I said Damon was too caught up in saving Katherine to notice. We could hear Hattie crying out our names after we were shot. Her father was holding her back. But I will never forget the look in her eyes, the total devastation when she saw Damon being shot. Even though she was calling both of our names her eyes never left Damon's body."

"That must have been horrible for her to see you dying on the ground and not being able to do anything to help the two of you. I don't know what I would have done if I was in that situation."

"I think it hurt her more that we had died to save Katherine. I wish I had been able to see through Katherine's mind games at the time. It still gets to me how I treated Hattie during that time. I should have been there for her.

"Katherine took something from her that was extremely important to her, our friendship. We broke her heart by choosing Katherine over her. Then again, as you know well, Katherine took a lot of important things in her existence. Why are you so interested about Hattie anyway?"

"She looks familiar to me," Elena said lifting up the photo of the girl called Hattie once more. "I can't pin point anyone I have met who looks exactly like the girl in the picture, but she does have features that too memorable for me to forget. You would tell me if she was still alive, well, in a matter of speaking, wouldn't you?"

"Of course, but you don't have to worry because I have you and I wouldn't trade you for anyone from my past," Stefan replied pulling the photo out of Elena's hands and tugging on the loop of her pants until the two of them toppled over onto Stefan's bed laughing.


	2. Chapter 2: Jenna's Friend

Chapter 2: Jenna's Friend

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"_Hi, you've reached Jenna's phone. She currently unavailable, but if you would be so kind as to leave a message and she will decide to get back to you. Ta!"_

_BEEP_

"Hey Jenna, it's Ally. I'm running a little late. Dr. Nelson wouldn't stop talking about the problems with my thesis or the lack of subjects. Honestly, with the amount of time I have spent on it I am starting not to care if he likes it or not. Who really needs a degree in Psychology anyway? So, yeah I'll explain all of that when I get there…I'll see you in a few."

Ally snapped the phone closed as she jumped into her car. She was supposed to meet Jenna at The Grill 15 minutes ago, but her meeting with her thesis advisor ran late… like usual. Luckily Jenna was usually late herself so it wouldn't be such a bit deal when Ally walked in a few minutes after the agreed meeting time. Also, Jenna knew what Dr. Nelson was like because he was also her thesis advisor.

It took about 10 minutes for Ally to drive from campus to The Grill. Even though the commute back to Mystic Falls was short, Ally still found it annoying that she had to drive to campus at least twice a day just for her professors to tell her what she did wrong. Whoever said graduate school was a breeze was seriously mistaken. "Then again," Ally thought to herself with a sarcastic laugh, "it was probably me who said it in the first place."

Ally parked across the street from The Grill, the main hang out spot for everyone in Mystic Falls. As Ally stepped out of her car she heard a familiar voice yell, "hey Al. Glad to see you finally made it!"

Ally smiled as she turned in the direction of the voice. "Don't want to hear it, Jenna. You probably just got here too." Ally had officially met Jenna a few years ago when they had both started their graduate program for a Master's in Psychology. They often spent their weekends quizzing each other for exams, participating in parallel study sessions, or drinking heavily while talking about horrible dates. Since then the two had been the best of friends.

Jenna gave her brunette friend sheepish smile. "I kinda fell asleep, effectively losing track of time. I blame it on school and becoming a guardian. So how have you been, world traveler?"

"Other than the fact I suck at research, Africa was great. There are a lot of interesting people there," Ally said pulling Jenna into a hug. "How have things been for you? Feeling grown up, yet?"

"You have no idea how difficult it is to constantly take care of two living beings," Jenna replied pulling out of the hug. "You saw how much I struggled with it when it was just me!"

"Oh come on," Ally laughed. "Those two are practically grown. How much do you have to do to keep them in line? Just give them a bowl of water and a refrigerator full of food and they are set for a week."

"It's a lot more difficult than one might think. The past few of months have been hard on both of them. Elena isn't as bubbly and outgoing as she used to be and the really sad part was, Jeremy was using for a while."

"No way! Little Jeremy. He was just a cute little awkward kid two years ago. Heck, I swear he was still a cute little awkward kid six months ago," Ally stared wide eyed at her friend. "I would have never expected them to spiral downward so much."

"Yeah, well, his attitude isn't very cute anymore, he's just another teenage boy. He spends most of his time at The Grill. I think it's because he can't stand to be in the house where his parents used to live; not that I blame him," Jenna shrugged, a sad look appearing on her face at the thought of her deceased sister and brother-in-law.

"But you said he's doing better," Ally asked, beginning to walk towards the entrance to the Grill with Jenna following.

"Yeah," Jenna replied. "It was sudden, but I'm not complaining. I like this sarcastic, joking Jeremy much better that the druggie depressed Jeremy. It got so bad, I was called into a parent teacher conference with Jeremy's former history teacher. That was an all time low. Did you know that some teachers actually create things such as 'Jack Ass' files?"

"What does a 'Jack Ass' file even mean?" Ally snorted in a very un-lady like fashion.

"Apparently it's reserved for students who skip classes, don't finish their assignments, and sass back to teachers. Jeremy made up at least a quarter of the file with all of the things he has done in the past year."

Ally let out a full bodied laugh. "People who make things like that are not mentally stable enough to work with kids. I still don't get why you would make such a file, in the first place. Oh, I have an idea! Maybe I should change my thesis subject to crazy teachers in small towns getting their kicks from hassling students."

"Well, they don't have to worry about their teacher's mental status anymore. He was killed a few months ago right before the start of the year football game."

"Oh, oops. I actually heard about that. Last time we talked, Elena said her teacher that was mauled by…what was it? A mountain lion." Jenna nodded along as Ally talked. "Jeeze, and I thought the puff adder snake in South Africa was worrisome. I can't imagine having to worry about mountain lion attacks within Mystic Falls town line. There have been quite a few of them recently haven't there?"

"It's been a really have had a really rough year for the kids and the whole town in general. Elena and Jeremy deserve to just forget it all. Well, I guess in Jeremy's case…drugs are his tool to forget. I'm glad he's off of that shit now. I would have hated having to whip his little teenage butt."

Ally and Jenna continued talking as they walked into the Grill. "Well, all depressive conversations aside, how about we talk about something happier." Ally wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around her as she began to tease Jenna. Suddenly someone bumped into Ally's shoulder…hard.

"Excuse me for being in your way," Ally said with a bit of a sarcastic edge to her voice. She reached up to massage the sting away from her shoulder from the impact with the unknown person.

"I am so sorry," a kind and concerned voice spoke.

Ally briefly looked up to see who would have such general sorrow at the fact that they ran into someone. She saw unruly light brown hair, dark eyes that reflected green, and a strong jaw. The person looked to be in his late teens and Ally couldn't help but stare at him in shock. Another person, a teenage girl, stood next to the boy, but Ally hardly took any notice.

"Hey, Stefan. Hey Elena" Jenna said with a smile of recognition. "I assume the rest of the group is around here, somewhere close by."

"Ally! I'm so glad you're back," Elena embraced her aunt's friend. Elena had known Ally as long as her aunt had and Ally quickly became a honorary member of the Gilbert/Sommers clan with her quick wit and kind nature.

"Bonnie and Caroline are in the back." Stefan continued to stare at Ally as he answered Jenna. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

"Oh sorry, Stefan," Elena apologized looking between the two. "This is Jenna's friend Ally. Ally, this is Stefan, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you, Stefan," Ally said shaking her head to get over the initial shock and reaching out to shake the boy's hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Ally." Stefan slowly nodded, as he slowly shook Ally's hand.

Ally let go of Stefan and turned to Jenna. "You allowed Elena to get a boyfriend. What kind of guardian are you?"

"I'm a great guardian. Just ask Elena."

"Of course she would say so. Look at him. What girl wouldn't be happy to have a guy like him? I mean no offence by that, Stefan. You seem like a really great guy, but in all honesty, if you hurt one of my girls I may have to unleash the inner beast. Understand, Mr. Salvatore."

Stefan said, chuckling a bit. "Other than Elena, which girls would you be talking about?"

"Jenna and Bonnie, of course," Ally replied coolly narrowing here eyes, sizing up the male in front of her.

"I forgot that you were close with the Bennetts," Jenna chuckled. "The way you act around Sheila, the two of you could be sisters."

"What can I say, Sheila and I have an understanding that is deep rooted within the forces of nature," Ally smirked at Jenna.

"There you go acting all mysterious and cryptic again. No wonder you are a psychology person. You're as cryptic as the human mind," Jenna laughed. She loved spending time with Ally for that exact reason, the girl certainly knew how to make a person laugh using her obscure statements.

Stefan felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Damon saying

'_Urgent. Home now._'

In order to comply with his brother's request, Stefan interrupted the banter between the two slightly older women. He would have liked to stay to figure out who this Ally person really was and why he had never seen her in Mystic Falls before now, but Damon's message had set him on edge especially considering the current tomb vampire issue. "Well, if you ladies excuse me I must be getting home. I will catch up with you later, Jenna. Ally, again, it was nice meeting you."

"You too, Stefan," Ally smiled, but Stefan could see something in her eyes that held some apprehension.

"I'll come with you, Stefan," Elena said before turning to her aunt and aunt's friend. "Ally it was great seeing you again. I'm see you both later."

"Well, that was totally weird," Jenna stated as she watched Stefan walk away. "He was looking at you like you were some long lost puppy of his. If I wasn't so sure of his devotion to Elena, I am sure he would have taken you home like some kind of stray."

"Woof, woof," Ally laughed as her eyes caught two more teenage girls approaching them. One with dark skin and dark hair and the other the complete opposite with light skin and blonde hair.

"Ally," the two girls exclaimed as they got closer.

"Bonnie, Caroline!"

"Have you told anyone else you're back in town," Bonnie inquired. "Grams has been ranting about your lack of communication recently."

"That woman really does hate surprises," Ally shook her head. "Not to worry, Bon. I'll visit your Grams after I leave here so I can tell her all about my latest adventures."

"Speaking of which, how did your research go?"

"It was a complete waste of time," Ally replied crossing her arms. "A lot of my subjects bailed on me throughout the study, meaning my research is postponed until I can get a new sample population. What do you say, Caroline? You want to be my guinea pig on the emotional effects during celestial/lunar phases and how that impacts the overall aggression of the human psyche?"

"I'd rather not considering I have no idea what you just said. And also, I wouldn't really want to do that anyway. You understand, right," Caroline said giving the slightly older friend an unsympathetic smile.

"I am wounded. Absolutely wounded. Jenna you should teach your niece's friends to be kinder to me," Ally complained raising her hands to her chest as if showing how she was wounded.

Jenna shrugged. "Caroline has a mind of her own, Ally. You should know that."

"Teenagers," Ally said earning a light slap to the arm from Bonnie. "Abuse, abuse. Jenna she is beating on me."

The four girls burst into laughter. None of them noticed Stefan and Elena were still watching them from the opposite corner of the restaurant from the exit. There was something strange about the Ally person.

"Stefan, I'm get the feeling I've seen Ally somewhere recently, but I know that's not possible. She's been in Africa for the past six months," Elena whispered to Stefan.

"Hmm, you're right. She does seem familiar, but if she has been gone for six months that doesn't explain why I find her so familiar." Stefan continued watching until he saw Ally turn her head to look directly at him. She gave a small smirk before turning back to the group of girls and quipped, "So what do you ladies think of Elena's boyfriend?"

Stefan was in disbelief. Did Ally actually know he was still there watching them? He thought he was hidden in the shadows well enough for none of them to notice, but the seemingly direct eye contact and smile made him think otherwise.

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**A/N: Hello everyone. Now that the introductions have been made and Ally is now in Mystic Falls, the fun can begin :-)**

**Feel free to leave a review, suggestion, question, or comment!**

**Always,**  
**orangezauber**


	3. Chapter 3: Unwelcome Rain

**A/N: Hi everyone, first of all thanks so much for reading! Secondly, I feel I should explain something about this story. This story is AU because I have decided to keep Sheila Bennett alive for season 1 to assist with Ally's character development. I appreciate everyone's understanding in this matter :-)  
**Disclaimer: Anything that looks familiar from here on, I do not own.**  
**

**This chapter takes place during season 1x17. **

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**Chapter 3: Unwelcome Rain**

"I still can't figure it out. How did she know we were standing there," Stefan asked pacing his room. He and Elena had gone to the boarding house after they left the Grill. It was still bothering Stefan that Elena's aunt's friend looked so familiar and especially the fact that she seemed able to sense him hiding in the shadows.

"It could have been a weird coincidence, Stefan," Elena said, standing in Stefan's way to keep him from his incessant pacing. "I've known Ally for a few years now; she's never done anything even remotely harmful to anyone in Mystic Falls."

"But you said it yourself. You haven't seen her in about six months," Stefan replied, his face never changing from its brooding concern. "Anything could have happened to her between the time you saw her last and now."

Elena paused. Her eyes narrowing slightly as she contemplated what Stefan was saying. "Are you implying that my Aunt's best friend was turned into a vampire while she was in Africa." She continued to look at Stefan for him to deny that was what he was thinking, but no such denial surfaced. "No. No, Stefan. I refuse to believe that my family's luck is that bad."

"Think about it, Elena," Stefan pressed, taking Elena's hands in his own and staring straight into her eyes. "How else would she have been able to see us. You were there. You saw her look our way at the Grill."

"Yes, I saw, Stefan," Elena said. She stepped close enough to Stefan so she was able to circle her arms around her boyfriend's neck. As if on instinct, Stefan pulled Elena towards him by her hips.

"I'm sorry, I just can't seem to shake the feeling that there is something off about her," Stefan continued his rant. Then his eyes widened when a thought crossed his mind. "She looks like Hattie."

"Your childhood friend and fiancé, Hattie," Elena slowly questioned. "But that was in 1864. How is she still alive?"

"How am I still alive?"

"No. We're just talking in circles now. I refuse to believe that my Aunt's best friend is part of this mixed up supernatural world. I mean I know Ally is also close with Sheila Bennett, but that does not mean she is a witch either."

"A witch doesn't make as much sense," Stefan said pulling away from Elena and continuing his pacing. "In order for her to have heard or seen us from that dark corner, she would have to be a—"

"Stop! We are not going to go through this circle for a third time," Elena argued. She sat on the couch with her elbows on her knees, placing her head in her hands. "It was a coincidence, I'm sure of it," Elena muttered from her position.

"I don't believe in coincidences. Speaking of phones…" Damon lifted pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and dialed a number. A ring interrupted from Stefan person. Damon immediately ended the call. "Interesting, you phone is on. I texted you over an hour ago. Where the hell have the two of you been?"

"You tend to have a lot of emergencies lately, Damon; so forgive us if we had other things on our mind."

"I don't care if you two need 'naked time' or whatever you were talking about. We have more important things to discuss like the vampire attack from last night."

"What," Elena exclaimed jumping up from the couch. "You mean there are other vampires in town?"

"Let's just say these vampire were already in town, they were just held up a bit until the other night," Damon replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a slight smirk on his face.

"The tomb vampires," Elena asked with wide eyes. She rushed towards Damon, only to be stopped by Stefan grabbing her around the waist. "You mean to tell me that somehow all of the tomb vampires have been released and are now attacking the town? How is that even possible? I thought Bonnie and her grandmother sealed up the entrance."

"Well, apparently they didn't do a very good job of it, now did they? No need to get snarky with me," Damon frowned, pouring himself a drink from his drink cart.

"I think I've earned snarky after just learning that a tomb of vengeful vampires are released from a tomb because some self-serving-psychopath was about to go on a rampage if it wasn't opened in the first place!"

"Well, what are we going to do about it," Stefan asked, not wanting the bickering to continue between his girlfriend and brother.

"I'm going to go over there, break down Pearl's door, and demand that she control her little vampire minions or else they're going to have me to answer to," Damon snapped, draining his glass in one go. He slammed his glass down on the table for dramatic effect. "This is my town to terrorize and I won't stand for anyone else trying to upstage me!"

"Alright," Stefan sighed. "I'll go with you, but we are going to reason with her, Damon. Pearl was always a reasonable woman. Just let me feed and then we'll head out."

"Fine, whatever," Damon shrugged.

"I'm going too," Elena piped in, looked between the two brothers. Her look wasn't questioning. It was final.

"You deal with that, she's not my problem," Damon said, leaving Stefan and Elena to decide among themselves if she was going or not.

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"Knock, knock," Ally called through the screen door at Sheila Bennett's house while shaking the rain water off her umbrella. Not getting an answer from her friend, Ally called out again, using a sing-song voice. "Shhhheila! Paging the lovely Sheila Bennett!"

"Well, well. If it isn't Ally come back from her trip of self discovery," Sheila smiled pulling Ally into a hug. "You are soaked to the bone, child? What good is that umbrella you're carrying if you still look like you went swimming at the falls."

"Child," Ally questioned with a chuckle. "No one has called me that in many years."

"Yes, well, when one has found such a fountain of youth as you then you can see where people might become confused," Sheila smiled stepping away from the open door. "Now, I don't feel like continuing to catch up on the porch where we are vulnerable to the darkness."

"Still worried about vampires I see," Ally said as she followed Sheila into the house noticing the two tea cups on the coffee table already full with steaming tea. Leave it to Sheila Bennett to have already 'seen' Ally coming and prepared the tea before her arrival.

"I worry with good reason. You of all people should not be mocking the safety of the humans, especially with this town's history, sweetpea."

"And this town's history is the exact reason why I continue to wonder why people still insist on living here. The record here seems to be stuck on a never ending vampire loop. Which gets me thinking, why you didn't contact me when the Vampires first showed up in town?"

"Well, it's not my job to get caught up in their affairs. Not that I ever wanted to become involved with those vile creatures."

"Tell me how you really feel about 'those vile creatures', Sheila," Ally chuckled taking a seat on the couch next to her aging friend. "But really, Sheila. You should have contacted me as soon as you found out the vampires were back in town."

"We can take care of ourselves."

"Just like you Bennett's. You're all strong willed and stubborn. You do what you want for the protection of your own."

"Well, I am done participating in their little games and I have told Bonnie to stop her involvement as well."

"Wait, Sheila." Ally's tea cup paused half way to her mouth as she questioned the woman beside her. "Are you telling me that you have actually gotten yourself involved in this since they arrived?"

"Well, they were threatening Bonnie and if I didn't help to open that blasted vampire infested tomb they would have harmed her. You don't expect me to sit ideally by why they hurt my granddaughter and corrupt the town."

"Yes! That is exactly what I expect you to have done. Stay home! Lock your doors; they can't get in uninvited! At the very least, you should have contacted me and let me deal with it."

"And what would you have been able to do, child? As much as I appreciate you protecting my family over the years there are just some things you cannot do."

"Fine." Ally took a deep breath trying to calm herself, trying not to break the cup in her hands. It was never good for her, or others around her, when tempers were running high. So setting her tea cup down and raising her hands in a surrendering gesture. "I concede."

"Good," Sheila smiled at the woman who looked old enough to be her granddaughter. "Now, enough about that wrenched vampire business. What I am much more interested in learning about was your trip to Africa."

"Yeah, it was interesting, but the most important thing I learned was I should have stayed here," Ally explained with a cheeky grin, earning herself a flick in the shoulder.

Ally and Sheila continued to converse and joke about their past travels as the rainy afternoon wore on.

"You know, I don't trust this heavy rain," Sheila said handing her companion her empty tea cup with a sigh.

"Why," Ally questioned. "Did the rain do wrong by you in a different life."

"Oh hush," Sheila said. "No, it's just this kind of rain holds a darkness to it. Something bad is going to happen."

"You mean the rain is setting your witchy ju-ju catastrophe instincts off," Ally clarified, carrying the used cups and saucers to the sink to be cleaned. Right before she was about to turn the water on to start washing the used dishes, Ally paused, tilting her head towards the front door. "You might be right about those instincts. You have a visitor approaching your porch, who I would assume would be very unwelcome considering our previous conversations." Without a second of hesitation there was a knock on the front door.

"He's got some nerve coming to my house," Sheila seethed causing Ally to smile. She loved when Sheila was the one that got all worked up about certain things. Get Sheila mad enough and all hell breaks loose; get Ally mad enough and blood bathes ensue.

Another impatient knock sounded before the aging witch wrenched open the door. "What do you want," Sheila snapped at her unwelcome guest.

"Is that any way to talk to a friendly neighbor," a smooth voice replied. Ally could not see who the voice belonged to, but she could guess based on rumblings and gossip of the town that this mysterious stranger was Damon Salvatore. Leaning back so she could see the stranger, Ally peered around the kitchen corner. What she saw shouldn't have shocked her. She already knew the Salvatore brothers were vampires, but actually seeing the second brother in the flesh was alarming to her. Damon's hair was stuck to his face with water pouring down his face just from the walk from his car to the porch. Even though, he was a full room's length away and his eyes were being obscured by his dark, wet hair, Ally could still make out the electric blue of his eyes.

Sheila harsh reply aimed at the handsome vampire snapped Ally out of starring. "You are no friend of mine, Mr. Salvatore and we had a deal. I help open that tomb and you never ask me for a favor again."

Damon sighed. "Then I guess you won't be much help using one of your little locating spells to help me find my brother."

"You guessed correctly and leave my granddaughter out of this mess. You want to find your brother, then it's your problem. Now leave," Sheila said sharply, sending the blue-eyed vampire one last glare before fully closing the door.

"You shouldn't have opened the door," Ally said, finishing up the dishes, acting as though she had not been listening to the conversation.

"I hope you never get involved with that man. Vampire or not, he is bad news," Sheila cautioned, pointing warning finger at Ally. "But of course I don't have to tell you that."

"Nope," Ally replied with a knowing smile on her face.


	4. Chapter 4: Party Trouble

**Chapter 4**

* * *

It was another Founder's day event at the Lockwood's. Ally didn't really want to go, she didn't really like going to these kinds of parties, but she promised Sheila to watch over Bonnie. Caroline had convinced Bonnie to be her date for the event and Bonnie not being able to resist the chance to help out a friend. However, staying home with her grandmother and Ally did not count as helping out a friend, regardless of what Ally considered helping a friend.

Ally drew in a breath as she walked through the Lockwood's front door. None of the Lockwood's seemed to be manning the door so she didn't have to do the whole awkward 'who are you and are you related to a founding family member' questioning. As soon as she was in the house Ally immediately found Bonnie and Caroline talking with the blonde haired blue eyed all American teen, Matt Donovan.

"Ally, over here," Jenna waved her friend over. "You look amazing!"

"Well, thank you Jenna," Ally said doing a full turn to show off her turquoise dress with black lace overlay and black two inch heels with a twist design over proximal toe position. "You also look stunning. I'm so going to borrow that dress sometime."

"Only if you allow me to borrow your shoes."

"Deal," Ally said sticking her hand out for Jenna to sake causing the both of them to laugh.

"Hey Aunt Jenna. History teacher at 3 o'clock," Elena said walking up to the two women.

Both Jenna and Ally turned in the direction Elena indicated to see a tall man with dark hair and stubble on his chin. He was quite attractive in Ally's opinion, but he obviously only had eyes for her red-headed friend standing next to her.

"He's the new history teacher," Ally questioned noticing the sparkle in her friend's eye as she watched the man approach.

"Yup," Elena said with a sly grin directed towards her Aunt.

"Hello ladies."

"Long time no see," Jenna said with a smile.

"Yeah sorry about that, I'm still playing catch up with grading papers."

"A likely excuse," Jenna flirted, only to be interrupted by Ally clearing her throat. "Oh, yeah. Alaric, this is my good friend, Ally. Ally this is Alaric. Elena and Jeremy's history teacher."

"Nice to meet you. Although you can call me Rick."

"It's great to meet you, Rick. And Jenna and I are more like partners in crime than friends."

"Duly noted," Rick said with a chuckle. "It's great to finally put a face to a name. Jenna has told me a lot about your… escapades from the past."

Ally laughed, sending Jenna a meaningful look and gesturing between them. "See partners in crime and drinking buddies. Most of our indiscretions happened when we had a little too much hooch."

"Yeah, but from the bits and pieces I remember I was always the one plastered and you were the one slightly tipsy but you always seemed to be the instigator."

"I'd have loved to see some of that," Elena chimed in only to have her ears covered by her Aunt's friend.

"I mean to say we don't drink at all. We are perfect role models for these young minds and you should never drink ever. It's no fun," Ally playfully backtracked.

"You do know you should have covered her ears when we were talking about getting smashed, not when you were saying drinking was bad," Jenna grinned, pointing out the fact that Ally still had her hands covering a grinning Elena's ears.

"I can hear you regardless," Elena said prying Ally's hands off of her ears.

"No, you can't," Ally attempted to cover Elena's ears again only to earn a swat from the younger girl.

"Jenna, do you see this. Your charge is beating on me again," Ally pouted.

The three laughed at Ally's expense.

"I'm going to get a drink from the bar if you people are going to mock my pain," Ally playfully glared at the trio.

"It better be a drink of water," Elena called over to a retreating Ally causing the three to laugh again.

Ally made her way over to the bar. She smiled at the interaction she just had with her friends. It was amazing to her how easily she was able get joke with the majority of the people in Mystic Falls. It was not like when she was growing up where she had to hide her playful humor when she was in public. However, Ally felt as though she was playing two different parts in some twisted Mystic Falls theatre production. And keeping up with both parts was tiring.

"Vodka martini, dirty, three olives," Ally told the barman as soon as she had reached her destination.

The barman paused. "ID please."

Ally sighed, but complied. She pulled the ID out of her black clutch, showed it to the man behind the bar, and returned it to its slot when the man nodded in approval. While her drink was being made Ally scanned the room. Jenna had gone off dancing with Alaric. Elena had found Stefan and the two of them were talking. Ally couldn't help but notice how different Stefan was acting compared to her first night back. He was more bold, a little more loose, more laid-back. Granted Ally didn't know this vampire very well, but something seemed strange about his behavior. What Ally didn't seem to notice was the dark haired Salvatore watching her from the other side of the room.

Damon was about to talk with Elena when the woman at the bar caught his eye. Normally a woman wouldn't cause such a pause, but this one had a face she would never forget. No, it was not the same thing as Elena and Katherine. He knew he had to talk with her in order to figure out if this was who he thought it was.

As Damon began to cross the room through the sea of people he noticed the music had changed. Apparently his baby brother had compelled the DJ to actually play some decent dancing music. It looks like Stefan has been lying about having his little bender under control. Now that Damon had a serious problem with it. He quite liked his younger brother being fun for once, but Damon did not want to dwell on his brother's eating habits for too long when he had his eye on someone at the bar.

"Hattie," a voice questioned from behind Ally.

"Hmm," Ally said putting down her drink and turning around.

"No. It can't be you. It's impossible," what Ally saw nearly made her spit out her drink. She turned to stare into a pair of icy blue eyes.

"I'm sorry. May I help you with something," Ally asked, acting as if she hadn't just choked on her drink.

"Hattie. It's me, Damon," the icy blue, dark haired man said. He advanced closer to her, his eyes never leaving her form.

"You must have mistaken me for someone else," Ally said wrinkling her nose as she began to turn away, back to her drink.

"But you look so much like her," Damon whispered. He was about a foot and a half from Ally when he leaned on the bar to get a better look at the woman who turned away from him. "Except look older than her, but only by a few years."

Frustrated at his persistence to talk, Ally said, "You're Stefan's brother aren't you? I saw you when you went to Sheila Bennett's the other day. That must be why I look familiar. I was the one in the kitchen doing the dishes."

"I suppose, but that didn't feel like the first time I saw you, _Hattie_."

"The name is Ally, Damon."

"Of course, my mistake," Damon said not truly believing he made a mistake. Hattie Whitworth or not, he would get to know this woman. "How about we forget the this interaction and we start over. Hi, I'm Damon Salvatore, and I couldn't help but notice you over here without a date to dance with. So would you like to dance?" Damon handed Ally a mostly closed red rose he had taken from the bar floral arrangement.

Ally slowly reached forward to accept the gift. "I'm sorry Damon, but I'm not much of a dancer. Plus the music kinda sucks." This reply only made Damon smile more as a memory surfaced from his life in 1864.

"_I hear Stefan is taking Miss Katherine to the Founder's Day Ball," Hattie said softly while looking out of the den window at the Salvatore mansion_

"_Uh huh," Damon replied glaring at the drink in his hand from his father's private stores. There was a bit of a bite to his verbalizations. He was not thrilled in the least that Katherine chose Stefan to take her to the ball._

"_Do you think they will be married one day," Hattie asked quietly. Her voice wavering slightly._

_Damon gritted his teeth. "With my luck, it would be likely they would wed."_

_A small sob caused Damon to look up from this drink and glance at the girl by the window. Damon immediately regretted what he said. He wasn't thinking about who's company he was in when he made the remark about Stefan marrying Katherine._

"_I'm sorry, Miss Hattie. I did not mean to offend," Damon apologized carefully approaching the shaking girl. "My hateful notions were getting the best of my mind. I—"_

"_You do not need to apologize for how you feel," Hattie said taking in a shuttering breath. She attempted to smile at the older Salvatore brother to show him she was not offended, but the ends of her lips only turned upward a fraction of an inch. "You are also an injured party."_

_The eldest Salvatore brother admired the young woman before him; he always had and always appreciated her understanding nature. However, Damon often thought that there was more to this girl than being understanding and mature beyond her years. It was as if she was not comfortable in the role society had chosen for her. He knew that she had not chosen to marry Stefan, but she was mourning the loss of his friendship due to Katherine's arrival._

_Not seeing a smile on Hattie's face did not seem right to Damon. He loved watching her interact with his brother during their moments of playful banter. The way her face would light up when Stefan would say something amusing to her made Damon smile every time. He hated being jealous of his younger brother, but seeing Hattie happy with Stefan made him feel just that. It wasn't that Damon necessarily had feelings for Hattie, he just didn't want to see her so happy with his brother. _

"_Dance with me," Damon said, breaking the silence the two of them were sharing._

_Hattie looked up with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, Damon, but I am not much of a dancer. Plus there is no music."_

"_I will teach you to become a stronger dancer then. No music is needed for that, just follow my lead and we'll be sure to make my brother and his date jealous of what he's missing by inviting someone to the Ball who is not his betrothed."_

"Who are you trying to make jealous," Ally asked, spinning the rose between her finger tips.

"Huh? Ah, no one," Damon waved the comment off. "So how about that dance? I promise I'll be on my best behavior."

"Somehow I believe even your best behavior is something a person's mother wouldn't approve of."

"Nope. I am definitely not the type to bring home to the parents."

This statement caused Ally to laugh."Alright, Salvatore, show me your dance moves."

Damon smirked taking the rose from Ally and placing it behind her ear before taking her hand in order to lead her to the dance floor. The music had changed to better dance music thanks to Stefan's ability to 'persuade' the musicians.

Damon and Ally ended up dancing next to Elena and Stefan who were trying to show off.

"Have I entered an alternate universe where Stefan is actually fun," Damon asked while spinning a laughing Ally. He could almost hear Hattie laughing the same way when he danced with her all those years ago.

"Do you have a problem with it Damon," Stefan questioned, dipping Elena.

"No, not at all, brother. I just wish I could take the credit," Damon smirked. "I like this care-free-come-what-may, Stefan. The normal brooding Stefan is such a bore."

"Ah sibling banter. It makes me wish I had siblings," Ally smiled affectionately.

"You and Jenna practically are with the way the two of you interact with each other," Elena added. The two girls laughed as their dance partners continued to spin them around the dance floor.

After a couple more songs, Elena decided it was time for a break. "Hey, it's getting hot. I could use some fresh air."

"Me too," Ally agreed. "Thanks for the dance, Damon."

The girls left the Salvatore brothers and walked outside together.

"So, you and Damon, huh," Elena said with a hint of concern in her voice. "Ally you should really stay away from him. He's bad news."

"You sound like Bonnie's grandmother," Ally smiled. "Don't worry. I am more than capable of taking care of myself. Speaking of which, Matt Donavan are you drunk?" Matt had just stumbled out of the doorway with a giant grin on his face; it became even wider when he saw who was addressing him.

"Maybe a little," Matt smirked. "Can't a guy have a little bit of fun once in a while."

"As the adult here, I should tell the sheriff that there is underage drinking." This statement caused Matt to pout with his bottom lip jetted out. "However, as long as you don't get behind the wheel tonight, I can let it slide."

"You're the best, A. You too, Elena," Matt said with a smile returning to his face until he looked over Elena's shoulder. "Mom?"

Matt raced over to where his mother was pressed against Tyler Lockwood in a passionate make-out session. "Mom!"

"Matty," Matt's mom said wide-eye as she pulled away from her son's best friend. "It's not what it looks like."

"Shut up, Mom!"

"Hey don't talk to her like that, man," Tyler yelled, pushing between the mother and son. The push caused Matt's mom to fall into a table, knocking it over, and caused Matt to fall to the ground. Tyler immediately began to charge after Matt, punching him repeatedly.

"Tyler stop! You're hurting him," Elena yelled. "Somebody stop him!"

Ally rushed forward, pulling Tyler off of Matt and slamming him against the wall with apparent ease. "Whoa there, stud. Cool off."

"Get off me! You're not my keeper," Tyler yelled, trying to break free.

"I said, _cool off_," Ally pushed Tyler harshly against the wall again. Her voice had a hard, commanding edge and her eyes looked straight into Tyler's with a solid glare. Tyler seemed to relax at her words.

The mayor rushed towards the scene, specifically his son. "I'll take it from here," he said to Ally, who had not backed off yet, still keeping eye contact Tyler.

"I said, I'll take it from here," the mayor said darkly to Ally. He grabbed her arm in an attempt to pull her away from Tyler.

"You'll do well to let go of me, Mayor," Ally replied with a calm even tone, shifting her gaze over to the man who had her arm in a vice grip. When the Mr. Lockwood had refused to release Ally her voice became darker and more demanding, "Let…go."

The senior Lockwood immediately obeyed the command, releasing Ally's arm and taking a couple of steps back.

"Sleep it off, Tyler." Without another word, Ally brushed past the onlookers after making sure that Matt was being attended to by Elena.

On her way out to the parking area, Ally saw two figures standing in front of her car. Neither of them seemed to notice her presence which was obvious when one lunged at the other's neck. She immediately recognized the one doing the biting. "Stefan, stop!"

Stefan turned towards the voice. He looked crazed for a couple of seconds before looking between the man on the ground and Ally. A flash of panic crossed Stefan's eyes and he bolted in the opposite direction.

Walking over to the man, Ally could tell he was still alive. She knelt down beside him and poked him in the ribs. He groaned, mumbling to himself that he was a 'clumsy drunk' and stood with some difficulty. It was at that moment that Damon appeared at Ally's side.

"What happened here," Damon asked directing his question to Ally, but staring at the man. "It looks like someone got him good. Was it you, love?" Damon turned his gaze to the young woman next to him.

"It was your brother." Not wanting to become more involved that she already was, Ally turned from Damon and walked around her car to the driver's side.

'_So much for going to the party to look after Bonnie_' Ally murmured to herself, slowly easing her car out of its spot after Damon had disappeared with the man. However, she knew deep down that tonight was the first of many she would have to deal with the supernatural forces of the town.


	5. Chapter 5: Insult to Injury

**Chapter 5: Insult/Injury**

* * *

"Good morning, everyone! I bring breakfast and coffee," Ally called as she walked into the Gilbert house without knocking. She had visited Jenna so many times over the past couple of years that she never knocked anymore.

"Morning."

Ally glared at the person who greeted her at the door. "Hello, John," she said trying to muster the least amount of enthusiasm possible.

"I thought I saw you the other night at the Lockwood's. I was hoping I was wrong," John said to Ally.

"Always so pleasant, John," Ally replied sarcastically walking past John Gilbert to put the food in the kitchen. "Why don't you do all of us a favor and die already? No one really wants you here."

"I pretty much was dead the other night, no thanks to that boyfriend of yours."

"Boyfriend?"

"Don't play coy, Whitworth. I saw you dancing with Damon Salvatore right after he snapped my neck. I'm sure the two of you had quite the laugh."

" One, If I had known Damon snapped your neck I would have build a monument of him as thanks, and two he is not my boyfriend. It was just a dance. Why? Were you jealous, John?"

"You better watch your back, Whitworth. One of these days I will expose you for the monster you are," John glared.

"Oh, dirty," Ally said with a smirk, purposefully baiting John.

John's face hardened. "I'm done with you hanging around here, Whitworth. Once I get what I came here for, you will be dead and I won't have to deal with you any longer," John promised, walking past Ally out the front door.

"Glad to see I'm not the only one who still hates him. He's trying to buddy up to Jeremy," Jenna stated as John rushed passed her.

"From what I've seen, I think half the town hates him. They are just too polite to say anything since he is from a founding family and is able to spare a few bucks at the town functions."

Jenna laughed at how true her friend's statement probably was. She, Jenna, knew how privileged the founding families were based on her dating record alone. "So let's change the subject before I lose my appetite. You brought coffee!"

"And fritters fresh from the bakery," Ally added handing Jenna a cup of coffee and a pastry from the bag.

"Bless you," Jenna said gratefully. She took a bite of her fritter and moaned. "I love these things so much!"

"Just trying to be a good friend," Ally smiled, taking a sip of her own coffee. "Good morning, Elena."

"Are these fritters," Elena questioned walking into the kitchen. She peeked into the bag and grabbed a pastry immediately taking a bite. She grabbed a cup of coffee from the holder and picked up her purse from one of the stools. "This is great but, I have to run. Last minute rehearsal for Miss Mystic Falls. Thanks, Ally."

"I'll get there an hour early to help with your hair," Jenna said to her niece.

"Perfect. See you then." Elena waved before she left.

"I'm so glad I never had to be a part of one of those," Ally pointed after Elena. "I hate being on display like that."

"Here, here," Jenna tipped her cup and Ally knocked her cup against her friend's.

* * *

"Have I told you how much I hate these things," Ally sighed following Bonnie's lead and getting out of the car.

"You didn't have to come you know and you didn't have to come with me as my date," Bonnie said adjusting her small jacket over her shoulders.

"Are you kidding me? Your grandmother practically had a conniption when you said that you were attending this thing alone."

"Well, you didn't need to tell her about the most recent 'vampire business.' You know how she gets about all that stuff."

"Listen, Bonnie. Your Grams has a bad feeling about tonight and in all the years I have known her, I have learned to not take her hunches or feelings lightly. She's usually right," Ally explained looping her arm with Bonnie's while they walked towards the building where the festivities were going to take place.

"Well, not all of us have known my Grams since the dawn of time," Bonnie said with a laugh, nudging Ally with her elbow.

"Oh, haha. Make a joke about my age when I'm trying to be serious," Ally replied trying to pull her arm out of her loop with her dark skinned charge.

"I honestly doubt you know how to be serious," Bonnie laughed earning a small shove.

"I used to know how to be serious, but it got boring so I decided to cut back," Ally replied.

"And you wonder why Grams treats you like a child most of the time," Bonnie continued to quip. "The only time I have seen you serious, and I mean truly serious was that time, a few years back, when John Gilbert made some off color remark about witches around Grams. I would have thought you were joking then too if you didn't have such a murderous look in your eyes."

"Well, let that be a lesson to you. Don't mess with who I consider to be family."

"No self harm. Got it."

"Good. I'm glad you see it my way," Ally smirked as they walked into the Miss Mystic Falls venue arm in arm.

Everything, including the banister of the stairs, was wrapped in silver tulle. There was a small stage, just high enough to be level with the last step of the staircase to act as a small stage for the contestants. Most of the elegantly clad tables were set up outside in the courtyard surrounding a wide temporary dance floor.

Ally and Bonnie walked outside where most of the people were gathering for pre-event cocktails. They said hello to a couple of people before finding a tall table they could stand at as they enjoyed their hors d'oeuvres.

"Would you like something to drink," Bonnie asked placing another couple of samples from the waiter walking passed.

"Sure. You're such a good girl," Ally said patting Bonnie on the cheek, as to not mess up the teen's hair. However, as Bonnie was walking away to get the drinks, Ally didn't even think about the fact that the younger girl was not even 21 yet and still in high school.

"Damn, should have gotten the drink myself," Ally muttered to herself. She was so distracted by her own thoughts that she didn't notice the man arrive at her table.

"Using your mind tricks to get what you want, Whitworth?"

Ally groaned when she recognized the voice of John Gilbert. "Do I really have to deal with you twice in one day? I thought once in this lifetime was enough."

"I want you to stay away from my family." John was staring straight at Ally as if he could scare her off with his commanding presence.

"I've heard you say that before, but it doesn't mean I'm going to listen. I like it here. I have friends here. I go to school around here. I'm not leaving." Ally turned to leave the table and meet Bonnie at the bar instead of being hassled by the older male Gilbert.

However, Ally did not get very far when John grabbed her arm preventing her from moving much further away. His grip wasn't tight, but it was strong enough to make her stop. "I suggest you do leave and this time for good, or else."

"Or else what, John? You're going to sick your little Founder's counsel after me? You have nothing on me," Ally said ripping her grip easily out of John's grasp.

"I have photographic proof that you have been hanging around Mystic Falls for years."

"What does that prove? I grew up around here."

"You have hardly changed appearance wise since I was a teenager."

"You've just said it yourself. You've seen the age changes which mean you have nothing to go on. Plus maybe I've just aged really well and you have not."

"Don't kid yourself, Whitworth."

"Oh my dear sweet John. I believe it is you who is kidding yourself. I have caused no one any damage…"

John scoffed.

"Is that it? Is it jealously, I'm sensing here? When did this hated of me begin? Was it before or after I turned you down?"

John grabbed Ally's arm again this time applying more pressure than before. "You will stay away from my family even if I have to kill you and that vampire boyfriend of yours with my own two hands."

"Listen to you getting all tough. But I'll let you in on a little secret," Ally said stepping closer to John and moving her lips close to his head so she could whisper in his ear. "Your little threats mean nothing to me. I could end you right now, Gilbert, and no one would notice."

"I have a ring that would prevent that from happening."

"It's not very effective if it's not on your finger." Ally went to grab John's hand in order to pull off the ring, but she did not anticipate him being ready for her maneuver. As Ally moved forward, she left her side open to John's other hand which held a wooden stake. He quickly stabbed the young woman in the side causing her breath to hitch in surprise.

With a slight twist of the stake John whispered, "Next time, it goes through your heart." He pulled the stake all the way out, tossed it into the bushes to hide out of prying eyes and walked off leaving a seething Ally with a bleeding hole in the side of her dress.

Strategically holding her purse by her side to hide the puncture, Ally started to quickly make her way into the building to get to a bathroom.

"Hey, where are you going? I got you a drink," Bonnie said when Ally tried to rush past her. Bonnie's smile faded when her eyes caught sight of blood on Ally's hand. Putting the drinks down on the nearest table, Bonnie tried to get a closer look. "What happened while I was gone? Who did this to you?"

"Elena's uncle happened." Bonnie's eyes widened in horror as she looked around for the man. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I'll just go to the bathroom inside to fix this," Ally said gesturing to the wound with her eyes.

Bonnie nodded and let her 'date' go inside. Once Ally was inside, she ran to the bathroom upstairs where there would be less of a chance of people milling around. She quickly slid into the bathroom promptly closing the door behind her.

"Damn," Ally muttered to herself as she looked down at the hole in her dress that was beyond fixing. She poked the area of exposed skin and winced. There was no evidence of a puncture in her skin, but there was a bruise.

Thinking fast so she could return to the party, Ally lifted up her dress and began to rip a strip of silky fabric from the inside lining to act as a sash to hid the damage. Just as she had finished knotting her make shift sash, Stefan burst into the bathroom.

"Whoa there, tiger. I'm almost done in here," Ally playfully scolded. When she noticed the frantic look in Stefan's face, Ally changed from playful to concerned. "Stefan, what's wrong?"

"She wasn't supposed to know," Stefan said running his hands through his hair in exasperation. "It would have been so much easier if she didn't know I was back on the human stuff."

Ally immediately knew what 'human stuff' Stefan was talking about but she asked anyway to play innocent. "Stefan, what are you talking about?"

"Blood. I stole from the blood bank and now they are on our trail again," Stefan answered immediately. Ally figured he either didn't realize he was talking to someone or he didn't care at this point. His eyes seemed to be pleading. "I can't stop thinking about it. I need it."

"You're going to have to breath," Ally replied trying to use breathing as a means of calming the vampire down, but telling him to breathe was a bad idea. As he began to breathe in, the scent of blood caught his attention. His eyes darted across Ally's form and landed on her blood stained hands.

The veins below Stefan's eyes began to protrude from the surface of his skin. His fangs elongated slowly.

"Hey, don't think about the blood. I'll wash my hands and we can work this out together." Ally turned towards the sink and began washing to blood away from her skin. "Just focus on something else."

His humanity was being taken over by his frustration at depriving himself of the blood he wanted. The lust for blood and Ally's coaxing was only making Stefan angry. In his anger, Stefan grabbed Ally's head and smashed it into the mirror over the sink.

In that moment the bathroom door opened again, revealing a blonde teenager who was part of the pageant.

"I'm so sorry," Amber apologized. "I-I'll come back later."

"No," Stefan seethed, his vampire face still present. He grabbed both Amber and a slightly dazed Ally by the arms and silently drug them out of the building into the forest where many of the guests cars were parked.

Stefan immediately let go of the two girls and began pacing as if changing his mind.

"I can't help it. Just one taste," Stefan appeared in front of Amber.

Ally recovering from her daze, stood firmly at Stefan's side. She grabbed his shoulder and applied pressure to provide him with the hint to back off. "Stefan, step away from the girl."

"You don't understand. I don't think I can." Stefan did not even look at Ally as he spoke. His eyes were glued to the young blonde's neck.

"Stefan, you can step away from her. You are stronger than the blood lust," Ally reassured.

"How do you know—"

"You have to trust me," Ally said stepping closer to Stefan and the girl, trying not to spook either one of them. "You are going to regret this if something happens to the girl."

"It's too strong," Stefan seethed pressing his hands and against the hood of his car with his head bowed. "I'm hungry."

"You're going to have to fight it."

Stefan snapped up from his leaning position and got right in Ally's face, who did not flinch. "What don't you get about it? I am so freakin' hungry." He suddenly flashed over to Amber to stand right in front of her. He brushed some of her blonde hair aside so her neck would be visible. "This is where the carotid artery is. If I bite just right I can control the flow of blood. It would be so easy for me to do."

"It would be, but you would regret it. Stefan I know you. This isn't you. You don't hurt innocent girls unless something is controlling you. And the blood is controlling you. Don't let it!"

Stefan did not appear to be listening. He was in his own head and all he could think about was the blood that was flowing just below the surface of the young blonde's neck. His face began to morph into the demon inside. The veins under his eyes crawled towards his cheek bones and his shape teeth protruded from his gums. He looked puzzled as Amber stared at him without reacting. "You're not scared of me. Why are you not scared of me?"

"You told me not to be," Amber replied.

"Run," Stefan said, his eye dilating, compelling the girl to do as he said. "Run away. Be afraid."

Amber immediately bolted off into the forest, screaming.

"See, there is good in you," Ally said stepping forward and laying one of her petite hands on Stefan's muscled arm. "You are not the monster than resides inside of you."

In the blink of an eye, Stefan had grabbed Ally's hand and twisted harshly. An audible snap echoed through the trees.

Ally gasp out in pain. Her eyes watered slightly.

Something similar to recognition flashed through Stefan's eyes. It was like he remembered those tear and yet again he was the cause of them.

"I'm sorry," Stefan whispered taking a step towards Ally as if to comfort her. A gesture that seemed so natural, but then he caught a whiff of blood. The sweet smell of the blood called to him and any thoughts of comforting the young woman in front of him vanished. All that mattered was his thirst and he took off in the direction of the girl, Amber.

The girl was in his sight and there was nothing to stop him from drinking every last sweet drop of her blood.

At the last possible second, right before Stefan was in arm's length, Ally appeared in front of Amber. "Stefan, please. You have to fight this. I know in the long run you don't want to hurt her. Listen to me and let her go!"

The thirst Stefan was feeling fueled his impatience. He wanted that blood no matter who was in his way. In order to prove how much he didn't care for the person in front of him at the moment, he grabbed Ally's already broken wrist and squeezed. More bones cracked, the sharp edges protruding through the barrier of skin. Trails of blood quickly filled Stefan's hand still grasping the wrist tightly.

Ally's breaths shallowed as the pain in her wrist intensified. Broken bones were much more painful than being stabbed and the pain from her hand was becoming too much for any sound to be verbalized.

Stefan's eyes darkened as the smell of the blood engulfed his senses. He brought the wrist he shattered up to his mouth and began to drink. Ally could feel herself getting weaker and weaker with each pull of red liquid leaving her body. She knew she could get away, but she didn't want to kill the vampire.

The saving grace was when Amber, who was watching the scene in horror, came to her senses and screamed. She ran off in the direction of the party as she continued to scream. Stefan had been temporarily broken out of his blood euphoria to chase after the girl. The predatory chase was more appealing than finishing his current drink. Fresh blood, more blood was always more appealing that almost dried up blood.

Even with Stefan gone she continued to feel her head spinning. Someone was bound to hear Amber's screams.

* * *

"There was blood in the upstairs bathroom and that Amber girl is missing," Damon told Elena in a hushed voice.

"We have to find them," Elena said to both Damon and Bonnie. "Let's go."

As they were walking out, Bonnie's phone began to ring. She saw it was Ally and answered, but before she could even say anything, Ally spoke first. Her voice was soft and laced with fear. "Bonnie, where are you?"

"I'm going to help Elena find Stefan. What happened, Ally? Did he do something to you?"

"There's something wrong with Stefan. Sheila wanted me to keep you away from vampires tonight. He really is on a blood bender. Let Damon deal with it."

"You need help, Ally. I have been practicing my magic and I've learned a few tricks to keep the vampires at bay."

"It takes more than a few tricks to keep a vampire lusting after blood down. Stay near people. I don't want you involved in this."

"It's too late. I think we've spotted Stefan."

"Bonnie, no," Ally gasped, but it was too late the young Bennett witch had already hung up her phone. She could make out the outlines of three people as they drew nearer. Sure enough one of them was Bonnie.

Not wanting Bonnie or Elena getting hurt, Ally hurried over. "He's completely given over to the blood lust."

"What the hell happened to your face," Damon asked when he saw who had joined them.

"Your brother decided it would be fun to smash my face against a mirror for getting in the way of his little feast," Ally snapped, gently touching her head with her good hand. "He's really a dick when he's all juiced up on human blood."

"You three stay back. I've got this covered," Damon said giving the three girls a nod before rushing forward to pull his younger brother off of the blonde human.

Stefan saw Damon coming, pulled himself away from his meal, and threw Damon into a tree as he got closer. Blood was dripping down his chin and his eyes were crazed. Not wanting anything to happen to Bonnie, Ally stepped in front of her should Stefan attempt to attack. "Stefan, please stop! You promised you'd never hurt me. This is hurting me. You're hurting Elena too" Ally called out with tears in her eyes, in one last attempt to stop Stefan.

Stefan's eyes widened as if he was remembering something. Suddenly he was gripping his head in excruciating pain. Ally and Elena turned towards Bonnie to see her staring intensely at Stefan, performing some kind of spell on the rabid vampire in order to disable him, if only momentarily.

Stefan ran off as soon as the spell had been lifted, leaving a bleeding unconscious blonde girl on the floor of the forest. Ally and Damon rushed forward to aid the girl back to consciousness.

"She's still breathing… luckily," Damon announced. "Stefan isn't one to show restraint. Something you said must have gotten through that thick skull of his."

"Never underestimate the power of a woman's tears," Ally smirked attempting to give Damon a double thumbs up. In her effort at making light of the situation, she cried out cradling her broken hand once more. "Son of a bitch!"

"Damon," Sheriff Forbes called out as she approached the scene. "I got your text. What happened here?"

Damon looked over to the girls before replying, "Animal attack." He knew the girls knew the truth, but the Sheriff didn't know that they knew.

The Sheriff nodded also glancing over to the trio huddled together, then looking at Amber sprawled out on the forest floor. "Is Amber alright?"

"She appears to be fine, at least she was still breathing when I first checked on her," Damon said faking a concerned voice. "Do you think she will be okay?"

"I'm not sure. Let me see if she is able to talk." Liz Forbes approached Amber. She pulled at the walkie-talkie at her shoulder and said something into it.

After about 15 minutes an EMT truck pulled up and a couple of paramedics got out of the truck, hurrying over to the Sheriff. One paramedic returned to the truck, grabbed an armful of blankets and handed one to each of the girls at the scene.

"She doesn't remember anything that happened," Sheriff Forbes said walking back over to Damon who was now standing next to Ally.

"Good thing the girls got here when they did. She lost a lot of blood," Damon replied gesturing to Elena and Bonnie.

"You didn't see anything," Sheriff Forbes questioned.

"No. We just found her and called Ally who was with Damon," Elena explained. They had worked out a story while the Sheriff was interrogating Amber.

"Is she going to be okay," Bonnie asked actually concerned for the girl who knew nothing about the supernatural world until tonight.

"It looks like it. Ally, why don't you take the girls back to the party. Damon and I will stay here to handle this," Sheriff Forbes said.

"Actually, I think Ally should stay," Damon said. "She might have some good insight into these wild animals that keep attacking."

"Sure," Liz agreed. "Elena, Bonnie. You guys can go. We'll take care of things from here. Thanks for your help tonight ladies. You did the right thing calling an adult."

"Anytime, Sheriff," Elena replied with a shy smile. Ally watched as Elena and Bonnie walked back to the party, the hems of their dresses fluttering elegantly behind them as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened tonight.

After Sheriff Forbes finished gathering information from Damon and Ally, she explained that the police department had to keep things under wraps. However, she would pass any information along to the two of them. With one last thanks, Sheriff Forbes told Damon to make sure that Ally got home safely.

Instead of taking Ally home, Damon took her to the Boarding house so he could talk to her a little while longer.

"Damon, as much as I don't want to be involved in the vampire stuff, we have to stop your brother from running around town trying to make a meal out of every young woman he meets," Ally explained. While riding in the car, she had answered the majority of the vampire's questions regarding what happened between her and Stefan that night. Now they were in the boarding house continuing their discussion. Ally was on the subject of stopping Stefan before something more disastrous happened.

"What do you suggest then," Damon asked taking a sip of his bourbon. "Believe me, there's not much we can do short of killing him."

"I'm not saying we kill him, just wait enough until he sobers up a bit."

"Drinking blood isn't something you can go to like Alcoholics Anonymous. If a vampire stops drinking blood they desiccate, they don't get sobriety chips for staying away from the stuff."

"Then we lock him up somewhere where he can't get to human blood," Ally said taking Damon's drink from him with her good hand and downing the rest of the drink. "I overheard Caroline talking to Bonnie about the basement slash dungeon you were locked in for terrorizing the town."

"And how do you propose we get him down there. It's not like we can say 'hey, Stefan running around drinking from the townsfolk is frowned upon these days. We're going to have to lock you up now. I hope you understand'."

"No need to get snarky," Ally chided. She heard Damon mutter something that sounded like "then don't steal my drinks."

"I say we use the one thing that Stefan can't refuse…"

"Elena." Damon and Ally said at the same time.

"It really is our best shot," Ally decided. "We have to play to his emotions. He doesn't have his humanity completely off. That was evident tonight when he left the girl alive and me."

They gave each other a significant look before Damon turned away, pulling out his cell phone. Ally could hear Elena answer from the other side. Damon explained what needed to be done—Elena reluctantly agreed—and Damon hung up. Pouring himself another drink, he asked Ally, "How do you know so much about vampires?"

"When you're friends with a Sheila Bennett, you tend to pick up a few things over the years."

"Are you sure it wasn't the fact that you are old enough to be a vampire."

"Anyone is old enough to be a vampire. You don't have to be like a billion years old like you to be one."

"Oh hardy-har-har." Damon couldn't help but smile at the banter he was sharing with the woman in front of him. He knew there was something different about her and he liked it.

Before any more could be said on the matter. Elena walked into the Boarding house. She briefly gave the two a nod, flashing a vervain dart, and heading upstairs to Stefan's room.

"Are you sure you are okay with this," Ally questioned again. She wanted to make sure this was not something Damon was going to regret. The last thing she needed was another distraught vampire threatening the town.

"He did something similar to me a few months ago and as much as I hate to admit it, he had every right to do it. I was out of line."

"The famous Damon Salvatore is feeling remorse for hurting a human. I wish I had a recording of that as proof that you might actually have a heart after all."

"I can feel remorse when the moment suits," Damon smirked, stepping closer to Ally. "But if you tell anyone, I'd have to kill you and that would be such as waste of a pretty face." Damon took another step so he was within touching distance of Ally. He reached out and brushed a lock of hair, caked with dirt and dried blood, behind her ear. Damon scrutinized her face realizing something wasn't right. "How did that gash on your head heal already?"

Ally immediately stepped back. She was about to say some excuse, but she was saved by a thud from the floor above. Instead she said, "Stefan's down. Let's go before he wakes up."

Without waiting for an answer, Ally crossed the room and retreated up the stairs leaving Damon behind to watch her with curiosity.


	6. Chapter 6: Last Moments

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"What is wrong with you? You could have been killed," Sheila said advancing on Ally as she stood, arms crossed, in the living room of Sheila Bennett's house the after Stefan attacked the girl from the Miss Mystic Falls competition.

"Don't lecture me, Sheila. He was going after an innocent human," Ally said holding her ground. She had gotten into plenty of arguments with Sheila over the years and this one was no different. Their voice volume would increase as they continued to argue.

"That does not mean you need to get involved in vampire business," Sheila snapped, her dark eyes trying to penetrate through he skull of the young looking woman in front of her.

"You know I can't just stay by while innocent people are getting hurt. Whether we like it or not I am involved in everything that goes on here."

"Were you trying to save that girl or were you trying to save Stefan Salvatore? I know you have a soft spot for the Salvatore brothers."

"That has nothing to do with it," Ally turned away from her friend. Both she and Sheila could be heard yelling throughout the house.

" Don't you dare walk away from me," Sheila replied, freezing Ally in place with magic. "I've seen the way you interact with both of those boys, Ally. The way they look at you is more than that of a friendly neighborhood watchmen."

"How do they look at me? Like they want to suck my blood," Ally snapped. "They look at everyone like that."

Sheila shook her head walking in front of Ally so she could look the fair skinned woman in the eye. "They have a soft spot for you like you do for them. I know their history and I know your history. They used to be good, but they are not the sweet boys from the 1800s that are in our town history books. They are now the terrible creatures our family need protection from."

"History has nothing to do with this," Ally sighed. "My first priority _is_ to protect you and Bonnie."

"And we want to protect you as well. Why else do you think Bonnie did what she did," Sheila questioned, lowering her voice.

Ally glared at her aging friend. "That was not part of the original deal."

"Welcome to the 21st century, sweetpea," Sheila replied with a smirk. She waved her hand and released the invisible hold on Ally's feet.

"You witches just can't let others help you."

"You're considered to be part of the family and we take care of our own—including you."

"Grams is right. She's not just teaching me magic so I can light my own birthday candles. She's teaching me how to protect myself as well," Bonnie said emerging from direction of the kitchen.

"Hence that headache thing…" Ally glared at her young friend, remembering pain on Stefan's face.

"Hence the headache thing," Bonnie smiled. "I was pretty badass."

"Bonnie, don't you use that language, child," Sheila chided, trying to hide the small smile forming on her lips. She knew Bonnie had talent, but she didn't want to condone such reckless behavior from her granddaughter.

Ally noticed her aging friend trying to hold back a smile. "No, I think she's right. You should have seen her, Sheila. Bonnie was a natural."

"I just wish she wasn't involved."

Ally rolled her eyes and sighed at the fact that Sheila just contradicted herself. "That's the curse of living in this town, I fear. It is a beacon for supernatural. I was around Bonnie's age when I found out about all this stuff and it terrified me to no end."

"And look how far you have come," Sheila smiled.

"Not really by choice."

"We all have choices."

"You're right. I loved you so much I just couldn't let myself die."

"I am in no need for your sarcasm."

Ally had no chance to reply with another sarcastic comment before the vibration in her back pocket erupted. She pulled out her phone looking at the screen reading "Elena Gilbert." Swiping her thumb across the phone screen she answered the call. "Ally's pizza delivery. What's your order?"

"Ally.."

"Elena…" Ally mimicked Elena's tone.

"Could you pick me up and take me home so I can get another change of clothes?"

"You took that delivery service thing to heart didn't you…" Ally chuckled at the automatic request from the teen.

"Ally please."

"Alright, I'll come get you. But your aunt owes me." Ally knew that Jenna had taken Elena's car for the day and she must have volunteered Ally to act as chauffeur to the Gilbert kids.

Elena laughed. "I'll let her know. I'm at the Salvatore boarding house." With that, Elena and Ally hung up the phones.

"I have to go pick up Elena from the Salvatore's house," Ally explained to the two witches watching her. "I will see you guys later."

"Don't think that we have finished this discussion, Ally," Sheila warned.

"Wouldn't even dream of it." And Ally was gone.

Stefan was lying in the basement of the Salvatore Boarding house behind a locked and reinforced door. The night before, after his loss of control at the Miss Mystic Falls crowning, Elena had injected Stefan with vervain and locked him away.

Already he could feel the effects of his body shutting down without the constant intake of blood. He had overindulged the previous night and Stefan gladly accepted this as his punishment. Not only was he plagued by the visions of the night before, but he also haunted by vivid memories of the past…

**OoOoOoO**

"_I'll distract them and you get her out," Stefan said to his brother who nodded. Then Stefan ran out of the forest towards the group of men standing next to the covered cart. "Hey over here, I found another one." All the men ran into the direction Stefan was pointing. As soon as they disappeared Stefan hurried over to help Damon retrieve Katherine._

_ A shot ran out and Damon dropped to the ground, blood flowing out of his chest at an alarming rate. A feminine voice cried out for his brother, "Damon! Damon, no!"_

_ Looking off into the direction of the voice Stefan saw Hattie struggling against someone holding her back. It was obvious his best friend, the friend he felt like he hadn't seen since Katherine's arrival, wanted to help his brother. However, Stefan would not allow that to happen. He couldn't protect her from what she just witnessed, but he could prevent her from getting herself killed because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He stood grabbing a rifle that had fallen to the ground when Damon was shot, but before he could make a move to protect her, he was shot himself._

_ Again he hears the loud cries from Hattie. This time it was his name she was calling out._

_ "Stefan! Please, Stefan! Nooooooo! STEFAN!" Her face was contorted by the shadows the moon had created with the surrounding forest. However he could clearly see the glistening tears in her eyes as she continued to call his name and pull against her captor._

**OoOoOoO**

Stefan's mind wandered back to the present, but he swore he could see Hattie through his blurry vision as well as Katherine. He knew neither woman was with him at that moment, however, the delusions were making it difficult to differentiate between the past and the present. His mind was drifting between seeing Katherine being taken away to Elena slowly leaving the basement. There were also mixtures of Hattie screaming out his name as she watched him die and Jenna's friend Ally telling Elena everything was going to be 'okay.'

After the reinforced door had closed, hushed tones could be heard from the other side.

"Why did you and Ally decide to lock him up instead of killing him? I know you of all people like killing people first and ask questions later."

Damon rolled his eyes at Elena's comment. "I couldn't have him running around chewing on people while the town is out there looking for vampires, now could I?"

"It had nothing to do with you actually caring about him, did it?"

"Your thing; not mine. Plus I had to find a way to shut Ally up. That woman would not drop the subject until I agreed to do something semi-heroic to save my brother," Damon said, glaring at the young woman. Then he turned away from Elena and Ally, retreating up the stairs back up to the main part of the house.

There was a silence between the three left in the basement, only soft creaks of the house above them could be heard.

"I'll give you one more moment alone with him before we head out," Ally told Elena before ascending the stairs. She knew the younger girl wanted some time with Stefan in order to understand what was going on with him. "If you need anything, just yell…for me… not for Damon. Chances are he will ignore your beckoning."

Elena remained where she was at the bottom of the stairs. She found it strange that Damon had started talking about Ally more in conversations. Then he asked Ally to stay with him after Stefan attacked at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. It was strange behavior especially for someone like Damon who constantly preaches he has no humanity and therefore no need for friends.

"Stefan," Elena gently called through the door. He didn't answer, but Elena saw him move slightly at the sound of his name. He was listening. "Do you think there could be something going on between Ally and Damon?"

Stefan didn't answer, not that Elena expected him to immediately reply. So she tried a different approach. "Did Damon and Hattie ever have anything between them?"

This caught Stefan's attention. He finally turned towards Elena. "They let you stay down here with me, unaccompanied, and yet that is what you want to talk about," his voice was hoarse and soft, but still able to be heard.

Elena shrugged even though Stefan wasn't able to see from behind the door. "I just keep remembering those photos in your room… the ones of you and Hattie. I saw them again the other night before we brought you down here. Ally just happened to be in the room at the time and it was almost uncanny how similar she looked to the picture…"

"Now with Ally and Damon spending time together you have been wondering about him and Hattie as well," Stefan finished for Elena. He sighed. "She did ask me to take care of Damon when I told her neither of us were going to go through with the transition."

"Wait! You talked to her after she watched you die," Elena asked with interest. "I didn't think you talked to her only saw her after you turned."

Stefan nodded as he began to explain. "It's complicated…"

**OoOoOoO**

_Stefan woke up in a small wooden enclosure near the Quarry. His shirt was stained with blood. He quickly unbuttoned part of his shirt to find no bullet hole in this chest. The wound had been completely healed and on his finger was a ring he had almost forgotten about._

"_Katherine had me make that for you weeks ago," Emily Bennett said approaching the younger Salvatore brother._

_Stefan continued to stare down at the ring. "This was supposed to be my wedding band for when Hattie and I married."_

"_I know. Katherine wanted me to use that ring specifically."The disapproval was obvious in her voice. Emily did not always approve of the things Katherine chose to do._

"_Why?" Stefan sent a questioning look to the witch before him._

"_Katherine is a very entitled woman and I do not always agree with her decisions. But I am indebted to her therefore I kindly keep my opinions to myself on many matters. I believe she knew exactly what this ring meant and that is why she wanted to use it. She didn't want any other woman to have you but her. Now, this ring will always remind you of her because it is what will keep you alive."_

"_I was not hers to claim."_

"_She did not see it that way. She saw you and your brother as pieces in her game. With Katherine, she is never the one who loses or if she comes close she changes the rules."_

"_Is that why I'm still here?"_

"_Yes, it was because Katherine fed you her blood so you could be with her forever." Again the disapproval in her voice was at the surface. Assisting Katherine in staying alive was one thing, but aiding in creating more creatures like her was quite another._

"_But I don't remember drinking…" Stefan tried to remember ever tasting Katherine's blood, but he could only remember calling out her name as his father and the other men took her away._

"_She compelled you to drink from her."_

"_And Damon? Was he forced to drink from her as well?"_

"_No compulsion was necessary. He drank willingly."_

"_Where is he?" Stefan stood up with a slight moan of discomfort to search for his brother._

_Emily pointed towards the edge of the Quarry. "He has been over there since he woke not long before you."_

_Stefan thanked Emily before slowly walking to where his brother was sitting. Damon had his shirt off and was periodically dipping it in the water and scrubbing it in order to get rid of some of the stained blood._

"_Brother," Stefan said softly taking a seat next to Damon on the bank._

"_She's gone, Stefan," Damon said as he stopped scrubbing the damp shirt. "She was taken from me."_

"_I'm sorry."_

"_What do you have to be sorry about," Damon questioned his brother when he heard his brother apologize. His back was to Stefan in an attempt to wash his blood out of the cotton fabrics of his shirt._

"_I went to father to explain to him that not all vampires were bad—"_

_Damon immediately stood turning towards his brother and abandoning his shirt in the water. "This was your fault?_

"_I thought father was going to listen!" Stefan pleaded his case. He reached out for his brother, but Damon pulled further away._

"_It's because of you then that we are dead and she is gone!"_

"_Damon I—"_

"_I made a deal with the witch! She said she would protect her if I watched out for—"_

"_I lost her too, Damon," Stefan shouted._

"_It was only supposed to be only me! Now I have to live an eternity without her!" Damon yelled, grabbing a rock and throwing it into the water in frustration. "No, I will not go through that. I will not complete the transition."_

"_But you'll die, brother."_

"_Then I die."_

"_Then I shall as well. There is no point in living forever if I will not be able to have family with me."_

"_Stop being a martyr, brother. We both know you have someone to live for," Damon said coldly, bending down to retrieve his shirt and wringing it out._

"_Who?" Stefan tried to remember any family they had other than their father, but as far as he knew there was no one._

"_Have you already forgotten about Hattie," Damon asked with a huff. He watched Stefan's face turn to one of understanding and regret. Then refused to say anymore to his brother._

_Stefan stayed with his brother only a few minutes more before he got up from where he sat and wandered towards the woods in thought. He did not know how to reply to his brother. Was Damon jealous that Stefan still had someone? Of course he was. Katherine was gone and Hattie was still alive._

_Stefan approached his father's house in order to say goodbye and explain what had happened. The voice of his father drifted from the window, but it was the soft crying that held his attention. _

_Hattie was sitting on the bench in the garden, tear tracks were visible on her cheeks. She was holding the ring Stefan had given to her for their engagement. The blue stone in the center shimmered in the sunlight and the tiny diamonds surrounding it projected small rays of rainbows as the ring was turned._

_Changing his mind about talking with his father for the moment, Stefan slowly approached the crying girl to apologize for chasing after Katherine, but when he was about to come into her line of sight, something stopped him. Hattie had watched him die already; he didn't want her to go through that again when she found out he wasn't going to finish the transition. However, Stefan was unable to retreat because he had been seen._

"_Stefan," Hattie cried out. She quickly rushed over to where she had seen her friend, stumbling slightly over the hem of her dress in her haste. As soon as she was close enough she tightly encased Stefan in her arms. "I-I thought you were dead. I saw both you and Damon be shot." Fresh tears wound their way down her cheeks._

"_Shhh," Stefan hushed wrapping his own arms around his friend's small frame._

_Hattie buried her head even further into Stefan's chest causing her words to come out mumbled. "S-so much has happened s-since last night. I needed you."_

"_Hattie, I am sorry."_

"_It feels like you have been gone for long time. I thought you had died… I never thought I would get the chance to see you again and…"_

"_Listen, Hattie. There is something you need to know."_

_Hattie lifted her head from Stefan's chest and looked up to his face with teary eyes._

_Stefan took a deep breath and began to explain everything starting when Katherine came into town and Stefan broke up his engagement with Hattie._

"_But how did she make you call off the wedding?"_

"_Because she was a… vampire."_

"_A vampire," Hattie asked. Then realization crossed through her eyes. "Is that why you are not dead? You? Are you a vampire too?"_

"_No, not yet. I chose not to become one."_

"_You actually will die then?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And Damon? What of him?"_

"_He too made the decision to not transition into a vampire."_

_Stefan could tell Hattie was about to cry even harder at the knowledge that Damon had also decided to die. "Where did you get the necklace," Stefan asked when he saw the sparkle of something around Hattie's neck, grateful for an excuse to change the subject away from his brother._

"_Oh, Emily gave it to me. It is supposed to protect me and ease my pain at night. It is pretty, is it not?"_

"_Yes, very pretty." Stefan continued to admire the necklace while wondering if Emily had created this necklace to specifically protect Hattie from the monster he was transitioning into. After a few moments, Stefan looked away from the sparkling necklace and straight into Hattie's eyes—which he noticed were welling up with tears once again. "Hattie, I want you to know, after today, I vow I will never hurt you again, physically or mentally. I promise you."_

_Hattie merely shook her head and sniffled a bit. She closed her eyes and tucked herself back into Stefan's chest. The two of the sat together in the secluded garden silently as the minutes passed slowly._

"_I do love you, Stefan," Hattie whispered looking up into the forest green surrounding Stefan's pupils."You will take care of Damon too, won't you?"_

_Stefan didn't say anything, instead he leaned forward to gently press his lips against Hattie's. Their lips moved with each others for a few seconds until Stefan finally broke the kiss. "I want you to close your eyes and count to fifty like we did when we were children while playing hide and seek. Then I want you to forget you saw me. Forget we had this conversation."_

_Hattie nodded in understanding. She knew this was Stefan's way of leaving. He wanted to leave on a more positive note by playing one last game of hide and seek. Except this time, there would be no more seeking; she would never find Stefan again. So Hattie complied and closed her eyes, silently beginning her count to 50._

**_OoOoOoO_**

"I always assumed that Damon was desperately in love with Katherine. Why would Hattie think that Damon would choose to live?" Elena stood behind the barricaded door listening intently to Stefan's reminiscing.

Stefan shook his head weakly. "It was always Hattie who had feelings for him."

"But she was only 16…"

"It was no different than Caroline going after Damon or you and me being together. For Hattie, it was a teenage girl's crush. She assured me of that fact many times, but I could tell it was more than that. She truly loved him too."

"So there was nothing going on between him and Hattie?"

"Unless they were really good at hiding it, I really doubt there was anything between them at that time."

"How would you know for sure?"

"Because, Hattie and I were close. We knew practically everything about each other and she was extremely loyal. We were engaged and that meant a binding commitment to Hattie. She would never break that unless we had both found love even if she already had feelings for someone else. If I didn't then she would stay with me."

"She said she loved you though, not Damon." Elena could not fathom someone not choosing Stefan. He was the kind, sweet, compassionate brother.

"It was the type of deep love two friends share. Damon and I may have been close before Katherine came, but Hattie and I were even closer. It may have been romantic a time or two, but we were never in love with each other."

"Then if Hattie is still alive, and you two were as close as you say you were, would she want to see you like this? Practically giving up," Elena asked opening the door and stepping closer to Stefan. The action caused Stefan to turn away.

"I know what you're doing, Elena. You can't just bring up Hattie and use the possibly of her being alive to sway my guilt…"

"Then do it for me, Stefan. You may not have been in love with Hattie, but you are in love with me. So I won't allow you to give up on yourself."

Stefan was having a hard time arguing with Elena. He didn't want talk about it. He wanted to make his own decisions and not be haunted by the memories of blood or Hattie. "Leave me alone, Elena," Stefan whispered. "Please."

"Fine, but I am not giving up." Elena turned away. She left the chamber and secured the door. Determination flowed through her; she would do anything to keep Stefan by her side even if it meant bringing up things from the past.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter posted and because of that I'll let you choose the pairing for this story. Who do you guys think Ally should end up with? Drop me a review or PM and/or cast your vote on the poll located on my profile page!**

**Always,  
orangezauber**


	7. Chapter 7: Promise Me

_**Chapter 7**_

* * *

"How's Stefan?" After her enlightening conversation with Stefan, Elena had decided to go home to pick up her overnight bag. Even though Stefan didn't say it out loud it was obvious that he was being plagued by his memories and Elena didn't want to leave him alone for too long in fear that his depression might spiral even deeper. It had been a couple of hours since she was at the Boarding House so she was calling Damon to check in.

"How is Stefan doing," Elena repeated when Damon did not answer her question.

"Extra broody. He's not eating anything."

"I'm just going to pick up a few more things before I head over. What's his favorite type of… um… blood," Elena inquired nervously shifting her phone from one ear to the other.

"Ew. Gross." Damon said with a voice echoing his comment on Elena's side of the phone. "Who's over there with you?"

"You know it's Ally, Damon. She picked me up from your house not too long ago."

"So she's still with you? Well if that is the case, you should invite her to stay longer. If you're getting Stefan a snack you might as well deliver one to me as well."

"In your dreams, Salvatore." Damon heard Ally yell. He smirked a little at her being able to hear him. "You got that right, honey."

"You are completely disgusting," Ally's voice was louder and clearer than before. It was obvious Elena had put the phone on speaker. "A complete and utter creeper."

"That's not what you said last night when we were getting all cozy in the living room while Elena was upstairs drugging my brother."

"You were the one saying my death would be a waste of a pretty face. I said no such thing in regards to you."

"I'm sure if the tables are ever reversed you would be thinking the exact same thing. You couldn't live without my beautiful face."

"Yes, Damon. My life is so meaningless that the only way I am able to survive the harsh days is to see your mocking mug."

"I knew you couldn't live without me."

"In your dreams."

"You got that right, hon—"

"Okay, how about you put a hold on the game of round-robin flirting until we are all back at the boarding house," Elena interrupted the banter. Ally was beginning to say she was not flirting when Elena cut her off. "We are leaving for the boarding house now. Good-bye, Damon."

"Oh and just so you know, Stefan likes puppy blood. You know, little Golden Retriever puppies."

"I find that highly offensive," Ally muttered in the background.

Elena promptly hung up before Damon could make another comment to annoy Ally.

"What was that all about," Elena demanded a smirk playing on her lips. "You and Damon have something going on?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Listen, Elena. I have spent years liking guys similar to Damon. We flirt and joke, date and run away together, but it's never what I imagined."

"He could be what you imagined. He obviously has an interest in you."

"And you obviously need to get your own boyfriend out of solitary confinement because you are losing your mind."

"Maybe you could continue your pattern Damon-esque guys… then perhaps he would ease up on being a dick to Stefan?"

"You underestimate how much of a dick a guy like that can be," Ally laughted, picking up Elena's overnight bag. "Now let's go back to the boarding house before you try to talk me into dating Mayor Lockwood… who, by the way, is a different category of dick-head."

Once arriving at the boarding house, Elena got out of Ally's dark green Subaru Forester. "Thanks for driving me today. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. I will be thinking of ways I want you and Jenna to repay me."

"Deal," Elena agreed as she watched her aunt's friend drive off.

When she walked into the house, the first thing Elena saw was Damon putting on his leather jacket getting ready to leave somewhere.

"Oh good, you're here to babysit my baby brother. He hasn't eaten anything. There are blood bags in the cooler in the basement, but there are some bottles of the gross animal stuff if he gets fussy," Damon said, handing Elena the heavy ring. "Don't actually go into the cell though. We can't fully trust him. Good luck."

"You must trust him, otherwise you wouldn't be leaving me here alone with him, without a car," Elena replied. She thought it was a little ridiculous that Damon was making a joke out of this whole ordeal.

"I'm sure you have Ally on speed dial. She is very attentive towards your needs."

"Are you jealous of the attention that Ally gives me?"

"Of course not, Elena. If you need anything from me feel free to… not call."

"Nice." Elena glared at Damon as he left the house. When she heard the roar of the blue Camaro she went to the kitchen grabbed a bottle of the animal blood in the refrigerator and made her way to the cell holding her boyfriend.

Ally watched the house until she saw Damon pull out of the driveway. She had left her car in the woods where no one would be able to see it from the road. Once Damon's car was out of sight, Ally hurried to the boarding house door. She quietly listened for a moment to figure out where Elena was in the house before entering. It sounded like the teen was going downstairs to where Stefan was being held.

Quietly, Ally entered the boarding house, creeping slowly towards the basement. With Elena down there with Stefan there was no way Ally would have been able to go down there without detection.

"Come on, Stefan! You have to eat," Ally heard Elena coaxed. "Stefan! If you don't drink something then you're going to die and I won't let that happen."

"I've done horrible things, Elena. I've made promises to people I loved and then ripped them apart because I chose not to feel."

"But you're not like that anymore. You're not that person anymore, Stefan."

"You don't know what I am capable of doing. You don't know what I have done in the past."

"It can't be worse than what Damon has done. He refuses to change. You, on the other hand, are being the better person. You don't want to hurt anyone."

"Elena, do you even know why Damon and I don't get along anymore?"

"Because he's a dick and won't let you live your life in peace?"

"It was because of what I did, Elena. I am the reason Damon turned into a soulless monster with no regard for human life. It started after we were both in transition…"

_"It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was just supposed to be me. It was just supposed to be Katherine and me… forever."_

_ "Damon, I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I thought that father—"_

_ "You thought father would what, Stefan? You thought that he would understand and grant Katherine safe passage out of Mystic Falls? We have gone through this already! I begged you not to tell him anything. I begged you…"_

_ "This is why I have brought you a gift."_

_ "What am I supposed to do with her?"_

_ "Drink, Brother. Then you and I can live forever. You don't understand this amazing strength I feel."_

"I forced him to drink. I am the reason he is a vampire. After he completed his transition he promised me an eternity of misery. I have lived with that guilt for over 140 years."

"You didn't force him. He still could have said no."

"No, I prayed on his emotional state until he did what would have pleased me most."

_"Katherine would have wanted you to live forever, brother."_

_ "I wasn't supposed to live without her and you were definitely not part of the plan."_

_ "Come now, Damon. Honor Katherine's memory and live."_

_ "But I will not be living. I will die every day with the reminder that she is gone and I am forced to survive without…"_

_ "No wonder she wanted me to turn as well. You are too weak minded ever to survive as an immortal, powerful being."_

"I know you feel that there is nothing left, but I hope that you reconsider." Elena placed Stefan's ring on beside him on the cot along with a bottle of animal blood. "I'm giving you the opportunity to survive, Stefan. We can get through this together and when you realize that, I'll be upstairs."

Ally watched from her discrete corner as Elena walked passed.

Waiting until the coast was clear and Elena was out of human earshot, Ally approached Stefan's cell to see him intensely staring at his daylight ring. "Ah, that's the broody, guilty, Stefan look."

"Leave, Ally."

"Is that really what you want? Because the way I see it, you can sulk in here all you like, but all you would be doing is running away," Ally said taking Stefan's ring off the small sill of the barred window. Peering inside she could only see Stefan's back.

"I'm not running," he muttered.

Ally rolled her eyes at the obvious denial. She slowly unlocked the door and stepped inside. "Not in the physical sense, no. However, you are running away from your guilt and taking the easy way out."

"What would you have me do? I'm a monster." Stefan turned to face Ally when he realized she was not leaving. "I thought you would have agreed with me, with your friendship with Sheila Bennett. She would be thrilled to have one less Vampire in the world."

"It's not the vampire that should live, it's the man I know is inside there somewhere," Ally said stopping half-way between the door and where the brooding vampire was laying.

"He is dead or he should have died a long time ago," Stefan argued.

"No, he is not completely dead. This guilt, this remorse… it is your humanity. And you know what humanity means?" Ally didn't wait for a reply. "It means you still have the old you in there."

"What do you know of guilt," Stefan snapped. He didn't think she would have anything to compare to what he was going through.

"I grew up in Mystic Falls actually, but I left when I was nineteen. Decided to go traveling around for a bit, but was always been drawn back here." Ally paused, blinked slowly a couple of times before she continued her story. "I had my heart broken when I was about 16 and not soon after, I in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up killing someone. The killing was an act of self defense; the man had a gun and when I tried to get it away from him, but the gun fired, killing him. I will never forget the moment his eyes glossed over or how the ground beneath him looked as it absorbed his blood.

"It wasn't until I was nineteen that I learned about some of the painful consequences that come with my killing someone. I feel guilty to this day, but it is a burden I have to live with for the rest of my life."

Stefan watched Ally closely as she told parts of her life story. He was curious to see the emotions that passed behind her eyes when she was describing killing someone. There was regret and pain, but he swore he could also detect a hint of excitement.

"That story is supposed to give me the will to live? You tell me a personal story and I am supposed to relate seeing you as this shining example of how you survived."

"I know more about you than you assume."

"You know more, huh? Elena has been drawing some conclusions about you and I have to admit, I have the same thoughts."

Ally quirked an eyebrow. "I know what you are doing."

"And what am I doing," Stefan questioned coolly despite the fire he felt in his veins from not eating.

"You are flipping this conversation. You are making it about me when I came down here to talk about you."

"Ah, but this is about you."

"Listen, Stefan. I care a great deal about Elena. Her aunt is my best friend and if Elena hurts in anyway, Jenna hurts. I am very protective of my best friends."

"I know."

"You hardly know me." Ally shook her head, not believing the vampire could know about her… hoping he didn't know.

"That's not true. I made a promise to you once," Stefan said, struggling to sit up in his weakened state. Ally absentmindedly reached up to fiddle with her necklace as she watched Stefan rise. His attention shifted towards Ally's necklace, when he remembered something from the day he became a fully fledged vampire. "That's a very unusual necklace you have. Looks old."

"It is old." Ally was getting nervous about what Stefan was implying. She was hoping in his blood-lust the other night he would not have remembered her slip up.

"Looks to be about 150 years old."

Ally tucked the necklace into the neck of her shirt when she noticed her nervous habit. "I suppose."

"I've only seen that design once before, many many years ago. It was worn by someone I made a promise to; A promise you happen to know about because you brought it up the other night." Stefan was standing, his eyes not leaving Ally's face. He was determined to find out the truth.

Ally still had not moved when Stefan appeared directly in front of her. He gently reached out and took the chain from around her neck, examining the celestial looking pendant attached. "If this is the same pendant I saw all those years ago, then only the owner could make me stay."

"Stefan, you love Elena. Stay for her. Not a memory of your childhood best friend."

"I never said, the person was my best friend." Ally lifted her slightly widened eyes to meet Stefan's tired ones.

But Ally did not say anything. Stefan knew he would have to try a different approach to get her to tell him the whole truth. "Answer this, why are you so close with the Bennett witches?"

Knowing Stefan would not give up, Ally still attempted to skirt around the accusation, "I have known the Bennett family for years. I owe them my life."

"Did a member of the Bennett family give you the necklace?"

"Why would you assume that?"

Stefan ignored the question. "It is supposed to protect one from the darkness, is it not?"

"If that is what you believe." Ally was finding it more and more difficult to argue with Stefan. He was asking and assuming too many things about her past.

"What would happen if I were to rip it off your neck right now."

"Not a damned thing."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Quite sure."

"Then take it off."

"I'd rather not."

"Why not? It's not like the sun can get you down here."

"The sun has nothing to do with it. I have worn it for so long; I would feel naked without it around my neck. Asking me to take off my necklace is like asking you to take off your pants." Ally was growing tired of dodging all the questions and accusations.

"Doubtful." Stefan coughed bringing Ally back to the original reason why she was down here. The two of them had wasted enough time quarreling about Ally's past and her necklace.

"Enough of this, Stefan. Stop trying to give up. You have people to live for, Elena, Damon, and if you truly believe that Hattie could be alive then live for her as well. I would be devastated if I had survived this long only to find out my best friend wanted to give up," Ally spoke staring straight into Stefan's eyes. "If it makes a difference, I promise I will always be here for you. So there, you have me and if you were to die then you would be hurting me."

Without another word, Ally left the self-loathing vampire to make his decision in peace.

"Will my brother will live to see another day?"

"It's up to him," Ally shrugged, taking the crystal glass full of amber liquid from the older Salvatore brother and taking a taste. She noticed that Damon was holding an object in his other hand that looked like a gold pocket watch. "When did you get back?"

Damon glared at the woman who took his drink before pouring himself another. "Just before the end of your little speech. Very touching how you promised to be loyal to Stefan."

"He's a good kid," Ally said taking another sip from her drink.

"He's older than you, you know."

"I'm well aware," Ally laughed. "And you are older than that, grandpa."

Damon merely rolled his eyes at the age dig. "So, honestly, do you think my brother will decided to put aside this pathetic martyr act and live?"

"Let's just put it this way, no one is immune to the power of the puppy dog eyes and fluttering eye lashes."

"I'll have to test that some day."

"I only use it on people I actually want something from and frankly, you have nothing that interests me. Sorry."

"You wound me," Damon replied returning his attention back to the golden object in his hand.

"So what does that do? You keep looking at it with that contemplating look of yours."

Damon smirked. "You know my looks?"

"Don't be such an ass."

"You look at my ass too? Well, if you wanted me so badly all you had to do was ask."

"Was that all I had to do," Ally replied rolling her eyes. "I didn't realize that was all I had to do to get into your pants."

"See, you do want something from me." Damon smirked at his reply and Ally rolled her eyes.

A comfortable silence fell over the two of them. The only sounds that were heard were contemplative creaks of the cot downstairs as Stefan deliberated and the light pacing upstairs of Elena as she explored Stefan's bedroom.

Damon continued to study the golden pocket watch object in his hands. He didn't know exactly what it did but he did know that it was wanted by people he hated. Something had to be done with the object so it would no longer be useful to his enemies. "Actually I'm the one who needs something from you," he said breaking the comfort.

"You are honestly asking me for a favor?" Ally downed the rest of her drink.

"Yes, it's about this device and the promise you just made to Stefan."

"I made the promise to Stefan, not to you, Damon."

"Please, I need you to ask Judgy witch or grandma judgy witch to de-spell the device."

"You cannot seriously be asking that of me."

"Here, to prove I am serious about this… you take the device right now, before you decide," Damon said, taking two large strides. He thrust the object into Ally's hands and closed her fingers around it, holding her hands around the item.

Ally looked into Damon's determined eyes and said, as calmly as she could trying to understand what he was doing, "You just told me this is something that could potentially be dangerous to vampires. Why on Earth would you give this to me when you know I would protect my loved ones before I protect a bunch of vampires?"

"There are people who want this, people much worse than myself. They know I have it, but if I give it to you then it will throw them off the scent. I will promise to set up a plan with the counsel if you get this rendered magically useless."

"You really can't trust me with something like this. My first instinct is to protect the people of this town especially the Bennetts and means not asking Bonnie or Sheila to help."

"Well, aren't we a righteous little do-gooder? What is with you and the Bennett witches," Damon scoffed, but did not remove his hands from Ally's.

"Someone has to look out for the innocent humans of this town."

"I look out for them. I haven't killed anyone in… a while," Damon said earning himself yet another eye roll.

"That's self serving. You just don't want then counsel figuring out that you were the cause of the animal attacks earlier on in the year."

"That doesn't matter now. I have grown to like certain aspects of this and I don't want to destroy a good thing. I promise, I will do everything I can to protect anyone you deem innocent especially the Bennetts." Damon tucked a piece of hair behind Ally's ear as he talked.

Ally sighed still trying to understand his motives. "Why would you make such a promise to me?"

"Because," Damon took a deep breath before continuing. "you remind me of someone I promised a Bennett witch I would protect but I lost track of her after she turned nineteen."

"Who?"

"Hattie Whitworth."

* * *

**A/N:** Vote for who you think Ally should end up with... Stefan, Damon, or someone else? You can take the poll in my profile page and drop a review with your choice (to count as two votes!). Review each chapter with your vote and each time it will be counted as a separate vote. Voting ends in Chapter 10!

Thanks for reading!

Always,  
orangezauber


	8. Chapter 8: Proper Ways

Chapter 8

* * *

Damon spotted her in one of the corner booths. She was scribbling frantically. Damon smiled as he watched her pause and gently twist her necklace between her fingers, lost in thought. He watched as she wrinkled her nose in distaste about whatever she was writing. This girl fascinated Damon.

With as small sigh, Ally scratched out a few lines in her paper before she began to write again. Her dissertation was due a couple of days ago, but her adviser kept giving her more critiques. A degree in psychology should not have been this difficult. Apparently school had gotten more difficult since the last time she decided to attend. Then again Ally was never much of a writer. She laughed at the thought seemingly not paying attention to the dark haired vampire watching her from the other side of the restaurant.

"What are you looking at, brother?" Stefan looked over in the direction Damon was gazing. He saw the brunette in the corner pouring over her papers and books. "Ah, I see. Are you thinking you can get another chance with a Whitworth? She's not the same, Damon. We both lost her the first time we allowed Katherine's smile to get to us."

"This is none of your concern, Stefan. I am merely enjoying the view."

"I, however, do not appreciate being gocked at."

Damon and Stefan quickly turned from the bar at the sound of the feminine voice. Ally was standing right behind them carrying her stack of books and her pen pushed into the bun on the back of her head. Despite her previous comment there was a smile lifting her lips.

"Hello, Stefan, I'm glad to see today," Ally sent a knowing smile towards the younger brother. She knew her chat with him the other day had gotten to him and in part she was the reason he had decided to stay.

"Hey, Ally," Stefan replied nodding to her. "What are you working on over there?"

"My thesis, of course, why would I be doing something I actually enjoy when I have a tedious paper to work on," Ally sighed. "Or I should have gone into one of those medical programs where a thesis was not necessary unless you wanted to become a professor—"

"We need you to do us a favor," Damon interrupted Ally's ramblings.

"Why should I grant you a favor? What's in it for me?"

"Because we know you have this nasty habit of butting into places you are not invited because you think you need to protect someone."

"Wow. You've convinced me. How can I make your dreams come true, Damon, "Ally replied sarcastically rolling her eyes.

"What Damon is trying to say, is that Elena might be in danger and instead of you hearing it second hand we thought you might like to be involved in protecting her."

"Yeah, what he said."

"You're lucky you have a brother who is able to translate for you. So, Stefan, what can I do to possibly help you guys?"

The comment was not meant to offend Damon, but there was something about Ally being the one to say it that really got to him. Damon hated that she was siding with his brother and he felt very reluctant to say what he was about to say.

"We need you to pretend to be Stefan's girlfriend," Damon said trying not to flinch as his own words.

Ally looked between the two brothers. "And this will protect Elena how?. I feel like I am missing something."

"Well, I can pretend to be your boyfriend unless…"

"No unless. Why can't I just at the next table over and work on my thesis? And if I was caught eavesdropping I could just explain I am a psychology graduate student who loves to people watch. Oh wait, I am a psychology graduate student and I do love to people watch. What a coincidence!"

"That might actually work, Damon. She doesn't know, Ally and Ally is here all the time anyway. No one would be suspicious.

"Thank you, Stefan. I would prefer not to be involved at all. I don't like getting involved in vampire business."

"Now, you're sounding like judgey witch's judgey witchy granny," Damon said. He down his drink and called the bartender over to refill his glass. "Plus, sweetheart, you're already involved in vampire business."

"And that is enough for me," Ally said, reaching between the brothers to steal the fresh drink. "Leave me out of this." She downed the liquid in one go and then left the two brothers to meet up with Jenna for a night of exciting proofreading.

Ally had just made it to her car when Stefan called out to her. "Ally wait!"

Groaning, Ally shoved the books through her back passenger window, which had been left open a few inches."

"I understand you don't want to get involved in all of this, but this truly is to protect Elena," Stefan stated. "I hate to pull this on you so soon, but you said you would be there for me when I needed you and I need you to help us with this."

Stefan laid a hand on Ally shoulder and coaxed her to look at him. She groaned again in frustration. "I've always been a sucker for soulful green eyes. Fine. I'll help, but I will not act as anyone's girlfriend."

"Done," Stefan smiled. "When can I meet with you to fill you in on the details?"

"I'm supposed to be meeting Jenna in a few minutes, so I'll keep you posted."

"Great! Thanks so much, Ally," Stefan said sincerely.

Ally waved the green eyed vampire off and got into her car. She gave a huge sigh before starting the car and driving to Jenna's place.

"What's wrong with you," Jenna asked when I arrived at the Gilbert house. I had let myself in as per usual. She had her books and papers spread across the dining room table.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Hating life and wishing I had never heard the word thesis." Ally dropped her books onto the table. "Do you have any bottles of wine open?"

"Drinking already," Jenna teased, pointing to the refrigerator. She knew her friend was a stress drinker, but never seemed to get completely drunk no matter how much alcohol was consumed.

"Stupid people drive me to drink," Ally said grabbing two wine glasses out of the cabinet and pouring the remaining bottle of Riesling between the two.

"And which stupid people are we talking about?"

"Damon Salvatore." Ally took a sip from one of the glasses and handed the other to her friend.

"Ah, the guy may be hot, but he does seem to leave a trail of drama in his wake."

"You're telling me. He asked me to do a favor for him and because I said okay he now seems to think I'll continue to do favors for him."

"You gave him an inch. He's the type of guy that will always take a mile."

"I know. I've known plenty of that type." Ally agreed, taking a drink out of her glass.

"Me too." Jenna laughed. "Okay, apple of Damon's eye, where is this poor excuse of a paper you loath so much?" Ally scoffed, tossing her paper at her red-headed friend.

Jenna took the Thesis and began to read. She had a red pen poised above the paper. She wrote nothing becoming completely absorbed in the words.

"It's horrible," Ally groaned. "I know it's horrible. I have no idea why I went back to college."

"No, No. A, this is actually very interesting. These people you worked with… they sound almost beastly," Jenna said, gently placing the paper down. "It's not bad. How you detail these people's lives is amazing. Really."

"They weren't beasts," Ally shook her head while her hands bunched her hair on the top of her head. "Do you believe in the supernatural, Jenna?"

"My sister used to tell me stories when I was a girl. Are you implying these people are supernatural," Jenna question quirking a single eyebrow.

"Supernatural-like…"

"No, wonder the professors keep making you re-write your thesis," Jenna teased.

"You are being mean and for that I won't tell you about the tall, hot guy I met in South America."

"Wait, I promise I'll be nice for the rest of the night!" Jenna pleaded. She loved Ally's smutting stories about her various relationships from around the world.

* * *

"Are you sure you are okay with being at the next table? We can have you sit a little further away." Stefan picked at his burger. He and Ally had been sitting at the Grill while she spent another day of writing.

"You and Elena are the ones who chose to seat her next to me. I'm not moving from my study table. This is my normal study table and I will not give that up," Ally said stealing a French fry off of Stefan's plate.

"Your study table?"

"You make that sound like I am crazy. I'm a creature of habit. I know what I like and I don't like to stray from that. Plus the lighting is perfect, the table height is just right, and it is just secluded enough to allow me to not get bored but still be able to get work done. So yes, my study table."

"Yeah, that's a little weird," Stefan teased.

"Says the guy who is repeating high school for the like the 70th time," Ally retorted, stealing another fry. "Mmm, get those things away from me or else I'm going to eat them all."

"Learn some self control then," Stefan replied back just as Ally seemed to predict what Stefan was about to say and threw one of his own fries at his head. Stefan was suddenly struck with a memory of something similar happening back in 1860.

_"Stefan stop," Hattie giggled as her friend rearranged the silverware next to her plate. "Mother said I need to learn how to become the perfect lady."_

_ "I highly doubt your mother means of becoming a lady included sneaking food off of my dish," a thirteen year old Stefan replied. "I thought that part of becoming a lady was about learning self control."_

_ Hattie giggled again. "How would you know what is in the proper creation of becoming a lady? Is there something you have been keeping secret from me for all these years?" _

_ Stefan glared. "I am not a lady. I am a proper gentleman."_

_ "A proper gentleman would share his meal with a lady if she was still hungry."_

_ "Proper ladies are always satisfied by a single helping."_

_ "A proper gentleman would never deny a lady what she wants."_

_ "Unless the lady needs to learn how to control herself."_

_ "Are you implying that I have no control?" Hattie scoffed, folding her arms._

_ "Not at all. I am simply implying that you are no lady," Stefan smirked in reply. He tried to move out of the way quickly when his female friend snatched something off his plate and threw it back in his face._

"Stefan? Earth to Stefan Salvatore. Don't make me waste more of your food," Ally said waving her hands in front of the vampires face to bring him out of his daze. "If you want this plan to work you need to leave my table before Elena gets here."

"Oh right," Stefan said blinking back into the current century. He got up to leave about to take his plate with him before Ally grabbed his wrist.

"Leave the burger. People with heartbeats tend to need sustenance more than individuals without," Ally said batting her eyes.

Stefan laughed, forfeiting the burger and fries. "This makes us even?"

"Not even close," Ally said. "But it's a start."

Again Stefan was struck by the likeness this woman was to his childhood friend. He was sure she was about to confess who she was the day she sought him out in the boarding house basement. There were so many similarities.

Stefan was pulled once again out of his reminiscing about his childhood friend when he saw Elena enter the Grill. She sat down at the designated table next to Ally's, who appeared not to be paying attention to anything around her other than her paper and the plate of food.

After a brief moment of eye contact and Elena checking to make sure Stefan could hear her, a dark haired lady approached the table. Isobel had arrived.

There was hardly a greeting between Isobel and Elena. Both studying the other closely.

"Don't look for any redeeming qualities in me, Elena. I don't have any. I made sure a while ago I would not be slowed down by pesky feelings of humanity." Isobel haughtily rolled her eyes at the daughter she gave birth to long ago.

"I know other vampires and they're not like you," Elena replied, not believing Isobel could be as heartless as she tried to seem.

Isobel's lips quirked up in a cold, knowing smirk. "What like your boyfriend over by the pool table? Stefan Salvatore. Did you think I wouldn't be able to tell who he was with him? Why did you not choose Damon? He surely is the more interesting of the two. More of that bad boy complex. Or do you enjoy them both, like Katherine."

"I am nothing like Katherine," Elena huffed.

" She would be fascinated by you, you know," Isobel replied.

Elena was growing tired of whatever game Isobel appeared to be playing. "What's the real reason you came here? It can't have been just to tell me how fascinating I am and talk about boys."

"I want what your uncle wants. Johnathan Gilbert's invention." Ally stiffen when she heard, but continued to keep her eyes on her books.

"And why would you want that? What is John to you?" Elena questioned her birth mother's confession.

"You ask a lot of questions," Isobel said growing frustrated with Elena's many inquiries.

"I think I deserve some answers especially since you will not tell me who my father is."

"He was a teenage waste of space, which is all you need to know. Now, I want that invention," Isobel demanded.

Abruptly, the song Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked began to play. "Hello," Ally muttered into her phone causing Stefan to look over at her with a questioning glance. She chose to ignore the look Stefan gave her from across the room, put her book full of notes in her bag and grabbed her jacket from the chair next to her. "No, no. Just wait outside," Ally muttered under her breath.

As she made her way to the door, Ally noticed Elena getting up from her seat and Stefan making a movement to go to the teen's aid. Isobel told Elena to stop Stefan from walking over which Elena did with a nod of her head towards Stefan.

"I don't have what you want." Ally heard Elena say.

"I know, but Damon does. I want you to get it from him for me," came Isobel's smooth reply.

"He won't give it to me," Elena said.

"Then have that friend of your Aunt's do it. The one that just sitting at the next table. I've seen the way Damon interacts with her."

"Shit." Ally continued to walk to the door. Her pace quickened a bit and the placed her hand in her pocket to feel the cool metal of the object Damon had given her the night before. Isobel didn't know that the invention was no longer in Damon's possession. For all she knew, Damon still had it and he wasn't going to give it up easily.

Before Ally got to the exit, the door opened to reveal Bonnie with her cell phone to hear ear. Ally immediately grabbed the girl's arm and turn her around ending her call as soon as she was in the presence of the caller. "Nope. You are not going in there."

"What? Why? I wanted to get something to eat," Bonnie complained while she was being pushed out of the Grill.

"Bad vampire business in there. You do not need to be involved."

"I can help though," Bonnie argued.

"I know you can. You did extremely well against Stefan the night of the Founder's pageant, but there is a vampire talking to Elena and she's not exactly one of the nice ones."

"Who is she? Is she going to hurt Elena? Now I really need to go in there. Elena probably needs me."

"You will be just as accessible by phone. Just don't call her until that other woman leaves. She has a worse vibe than most vampires."

Bonnie didn't try to struggle. She knew there was nothing that could change Ally's mind when she went into protection mode.

"What does she want," Damon asked, suddenly beside the two young women.

"From what I gathered… to be evil incarnate," Ally said still holding on to Bonnie.

"Whoa there. Give me some actual information or else I will never try to set you up on a fake date with my baby brother ever again." Damon almost seemed to choke the last part out as if he didn't like the thoughts of his brother dating Ally even in a fake capacity.

"You planned for him to order food and leave it on my table all along." Ally glared.

"What did she want, Ally," Damon asked smirking at the young woman in front of him.

"She wanted the device and thinks you have it. I can only speculate as to what she might do to Elena in order to get the device. So I suggest you devise brilliant plan of diversion because it's not going anywhere," Ally said patting her pocket.

Bonnie looked between the two. "Am I missing something here?"

"Nothing either of us is willing to share with you," Damon said. He rushed over to his brother and Elena when they exited the Grill moments later leaving Ally and Bonnie alone.

"What does he have over you," Bonnie asked turning her attention back to Ally.

"Nothing, it's more like what I have over him," Ally said. "C'mon. We need to find your grams before things escalate."

* * *

**A/N: Hi Everyone. Don't forget to vote for who you think Ally should end up with... Damon, Stefan, or someone else. You have a chance to vote by review each chapter until chapter 10 (results will be posted in chapter 11) as well as one extra chance to vote on my profile poll. **

**Thanks for reading!  
Always,  
orangezauber**


	9. Chapter 9: Warning Crush

Chapter 9

* * *

"Hey thanks for meeting us," Bonnie said when Elena walked through the door.

"Is that Emily's spell book," Elena asked coming closer to get a better look.

"Yeah. Grams, Ally and I," Bonnie said gesturing between herself, her grams, and Ally, "have been going through it a lot recently. And check this out."

"That's the vampire compass." Elena pointed at the picture, slightly shocked.

"Yup," Ally interjected with a pop of the 'p.' "According to Emily, Johnathan Gilbert never actually succeeded in inventing anything. It was all Emily's handiwork. She was quite brilliant with her magical abilities."

"She secretly spelled them all with magic. The compass, the rings… and the mystery device." Sheila pointed at each invention as she said it. She paused at the mystery device.

"That's definitely the device, but Damon only has the one piece." Looking at her Gram's pointed finger, Bonnie stared at the two pieced needed to complete the device.

"It's obvious that Emily didn't want humans to be defenseless against the vampires so she allowed Johnathan Gilbert to believe he invented this stuff. She wanted there to be someway the vampires could be stopped if they became too out of control," Ally explained. "She was best friends with Katherine so she had to do all of this in secret; hence using the crazy Gilbert inventor."

Elena nodded remembering how Damon and Stefan had told her Katherine and Emily were close. "So we know the compass points in the direction of a vampire, and the rings allow the wearer to come back to life after a supernatural death… but what about the mystery device? What is its purpose?"

Bonnie bent over the book to read the inscriptions. "Are you sure this is what Isobel wants?"

"Yeah, positive. What does it do," Elena inquired shifting to get a closer look at the book.

Sheila answered for her granddaughter."It's a weapon… against vampires."

"It's something that could be used against vampires," Elena questioned. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. "Why would she want something that could possibly kill her?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, child, but I say good ridden."

"Grams," Bonnie scolded her grandmother.

"Wait, what's this one? It looks really familiar," Elena said ignoring the side conversation of the Bennett witches.

Sheila stole a glace over to Ally before answering. "It's a talisman of sorts. It provides protection to the person who wears it."

"What kind of protection?"

"From things that go bump in the night." Ally replied, the quickly changed the subject back to what it was before. "Let's not focus on magical talismans that have nothing to do with vampires and put our attention back on the device that can kill potentially harm them."

"We should tell the guys what the device is for," Elena said taking note of Ally's quick dismissal of the familiar talisman.

Bonnie's cell chirped indicating a new text message before Elena could say anything more. "Oh crap. It's Caroline. We were supposed to meet here to help with the Miss Mystic Falls float over an hour ago."

"You girls go," Sheila addressed Bonnie and Ally specifically. "I will meet you later and we can watch the parade together."

The girl nodded. Bonnie leaned in to give her Grams a kiss on the cheek before heading to the door.

"Be careful girls," Sheila called out as the three girls piled into Ally's car.

"I'll make sure they behave themselves," Ally waved out the driver's side window.

Sheila smiled. "They aren't the ones I worry about behaving!" She could hear the laugher of the three women as they pulled away from the house.

Bonnie's phone chirped again.

"How mad is our lovely Miss Mystic Falls," Ally asked glancing over at the darker skinned girl.

"Pretty mad judging by the amount of angry red-faced emojis she just sent," Elena chimed in leaning forward to read the text over Bonnie's shoulders. "I can't believe we forgot. Caroline has been going on about it for days."

"There are other things on your minds right now, like surviving a bunch of vampires trying to kill the entire town," Ally reasoned, pulling into the parking lot of the high school where most of the floats were being built. She parked the car and the three of them got out. Hardly any time passed before a crazed blonde descended upon them.

"Where have you guys been," Caroline asked clearly irritated at the lateness of friends.

"We are so sorry, Care," Bonnie apologized and the gestured towards Ally. "But look we give you a peace offering of an extra set of hands."

"Great, just throw me under the bus why don't you," Ally muttered, sending the young witch a playful glare.

Caroline looked over to Ally, obviously hearing what was just said. "In that case, you're going to help Matt with the supports and stabilizers on the back of the float. As for the two of you, flower duty."

"Sure, Care," Elena nodded dragging Bonnie away with her to the truck where the flowers were being stored.

"And I guess, I'm this way," Ally flinched away from Caroline's stare. Normally Ally was not afraid of teenagers, but this particular one was scarier than any supernatural creature when she was in her leader mode.

Ally hurried over to where she spotted the handsome blonde football player, but before she made it over to him another voice called out to her.

"Hey, wait. You're that friend of Elena's Aunt and Bonnie's grandmother. Ally, right?"

Tyler Lockwood walked towards her, a determined look in his eye. He had something on his mind and Ally was weary of what he would want to say.

"Yes," Ally answered as she pulled her brunette locks up into a pony-tail to show that she was getting ready to help and didn't have much time to chat.

"I just wanted to ask you how you were able to get me to stop wanting to attack Matt at the party the other day." His dark eyes seemed to search Ally's light greem ones as if he was trying to find answers within them.

"I was lucky you listened to me I guess. Just take care of yourself, Tyler." Ally shrugged, brushing off the fit teen. Before Ally could get a step away, Tyler grabbed her arm.

Tyler was determined to get an answer out of this mysterious woman in front of him and he was not going to let her leave until he did. "No, you did something else. Something with your eyes…"

"Listen, I don't know why the men of this town find it their duty to grab my wrist when they want information from me, but I suggest you _let go_," Ally growled. Her light green eyes piercing his deep brown ones.

Tyler immediately let go, taking an involuntary step back. "There you go again! How do you have this control over me that makes me listen to you?"

"It's nothing, Tyler," Ally snapped, taking a deep breath trying to get herself back in check of her emotions. "You should be getting ready to get on your float."

"Why won't you tell me," Tyler snapped back, his anger clearly rising.

"I suggest you drop it," Ally said looking straight into Tyler's eye again. "And _you don't ask me again_. If I had an answer I wanted you to know, I would tell you."

"Fine," Tyler glared. He looked as though he wanted to continue arguing, but physically couldn't.

"Good. Now go." Ally said dismissively as she watched Tyler turned to find his way to the 'Battle of Willow Creek' float.

"What was that about," Bonnie asked as watched Tyler storm away from Ally.

"Nothing," Ally sighed. "He was just confronting me about what I saw when I witness him and Matt's mom going at it."

"God, that must have been really awkward," Bonnie laughed.

"I rather deal with the irritated football player than feel the wrath of the blonde cheerleader."

Bonnie laughed. "Agreed." She hurried back over to her task while Ally wandered over to help Matt.

"Well, hello, Mr. Donovan," Ally greeted the kind blonde. "How may I be of service?"

"Hey Ally," Matt said offering a smile. "How'd you get roped into helping?"

"I was volun-told," Ally shrugged, noncommittally. "You're girlfriend can be quite persuasive."

Matt laughed, his blue eyes sparkling in understanding. "I know what you mean."

"So, what can I do," Ally offered.

"Actually, I need to secure some of the bolts under the flatbed. You can do that while I hold the platform up."

Ally shook her head. "It might be easier if you did the bolts. I'm not sure which ones you need to work on. I'll hold things up. I promised I am stronger than I look." To prove just how strong she was, she crouched down placing a shoulder just under the platform, her hands resting palms up on her shoulder and went up into a kneeling position, easily lifting the trailer.

"Whoa," Matt commented, eyes wide and clearly impressed.

"It's all about the use of larger joints and leverage," Ally explained with a wink.

Matt chuckled as he got to work. The two of them worked in silence for a few moments before one of the broke it.

"Saw you talking to Tyler," Matt said, trying to sound like he was merely discussing the weather, but failing horribly as a tone of disgust crept in. "He didn't look too happy walking away from you."

"That is because he was not happy with me dismissing his questions," Ally explained in a bored tone.

"He shouldn't have grabbed your arm like that," Matt seethed, pausing only momentarily in his task trying to get the images of his former best friend kissing his mother out of his head.

"No, he should not, but I was able to handle it. Believe it or not, I can be a bit of a hard ass when the occasion calls for it," Ally shrugged her free shoulder.

"I find that hard to believe," the blue eyed football player trained his eyes in the woman beside him, again the amused sparkle was there.

Ally scoffed. "Why does no one ever believe that I have a stern or angry side?"

"Because you are not the parent type. You're more of the fun Aunt that rolls into town that we feel we can talk to about anything." Matt explained. "In a way, it is much better than being the stern mother or angry father figure."

"Fair enough," Ally laughed. "If that's the case, than I open up my fun Aunt services to you and will allow you talk to me whenever you have a problem or ask me any question."

"Any question?"

"Within reason."

"Which is pretty much anything."

"Hey," Ally exclaimed, but couldn't help the smile from forming on her face. "You are being a rude teenager now."

Matt merely shrugged and spotted Elena not too far away. She was talking to a dark haired woman in what did not appear to be a very pleasant conversation based on Elena's posture and the scowl on her face. "Who's the woman talking to Elena?"

Ally twisted her head over her shoulder so she could see who Matt was talking about. "That's the woman that was at the Grill with her yesterday. I don't know exactly who she is, but she is bad news. Stay as far away from her as possible."

The woman gestured over to where Ally and Matt were working, which caused Elena demeanor to change from anger to worry. A shadow loomed over, Ally and Matt and immediately Ally knew something bad was about to happen.

"Matt, Ally! Watch out!" Ally heard Elena scream out and in less than a split second, Ally pushed the teen male to the ground, just as the bed of the truck crushed down on her shoulder.

"Oops sorry. Better fix that axle. It's mighty unstable," the mysterious man said with a smirk before disappearing all together.

Ally groaned in pain as blood seeped through the sleeve of her shirt.

"Ally," Elena yelled, racing over to her Aunt's friend's side. "Oh my God," She gasped.

"We have to get you to a hospital," Matt said, pulling out his cell phone about to make the call.

"It's okay. I'm fine really, just a bit banged up. Nothing a few bandages cannot fix." Ally clenched her teeth through the pain not letting on just how bad the injury truly was.

Next Stefan was there quickly followed by Bonnie and Caroline.

"It looks like it's dislocated," Stefan said gingerly trying to roll up the sleeve to have a better look at the injury.

"Then located it and put it back in," Ally hissed at the vampire touching her arm. "I be trying to readjust my clothing."

"I don't want to hurt you," Stefan argued, removing his hands. "You really should be taken to the hospital."

"You won't hurt me," Ally snapped. It looked as though the blue pigments in her green eyes were disappearing the longer the pain lasted turning her eyes almost yellow. "If none of you are going to help me then I'll just do it myself."

"No," the group surrounding her yelled.

"You could injure yourself even more," Elena tried to reason. She didn't understand why the older woman did not want to be taken to the hospital. It seemed like a ridiculous time for someone to be so prideful.

"I'll do it." Damon pushed through the on looking teens, kneeling down on the side of Ally's injury. "I'll do it." Ally nodded, closing her eyes when Damon looked directly in them, somewhat startled by the change.

"One…" Damon began to count, placing one hand at her shoulder to stablilze and the other just above her elbow, "…two…" before reaching three, Damon jerked the bone up, back into its socket causing Ally to let out a great grunt of pain.

When she didn't open her eyes right away, Damon affectionately ran his fingers down her arm. "You okay?"

"Careful Damon, your humanity is showing in a public place," Ally quipped quietly so only Damon could hear. She slowly opened her eyes to reveal that the blue hues were returning and her eyes were green once more.

"Alright people, nothing to see here," Damon announced, lifting Ally up into a standing position. He switched sides he was standing on an put her good arm around his shoulders. "I'm taking her to the hospital to be checked out."

"No," Ally screeched trying to pull away from the vampire and she almost succeeded getting away from him, but she tripped over her own feet causing her to stumble. Damon reached for her again using the distraction to whisper in her ear, "I'm not actually taking you. Just go with it."

Ally sighed in frustration. "I really hate you." She allowed Damon to put her in his car as she glowered at him the entire time.

"Bonnie," he called out to the young witch who was following cautiously. He threw her the keys to Ally's Forester telling her to follow.

Bonnie looked worried, but got into Ally's car as Elena and Stefan climbed in as well.

"Mind telling me what that was all about," Damon asked, placing his right arm over the seat behind Ally's head as he backed up his car.

"A truck bed dislocated my shoulder," Ally said breezily, looking out the window.

"Yes, Captain Obvious, I am aware of that." Damon rolled his eyes. "What were you doing under the truck in the first place?"

"I was giving Matt some more room to work. I was using my shoulder instead of just my arms. It decreases upper extremity fatigue by allowing the lower body to take the majority of the force for lifting rather than just the arms," Ally explained still not looking over at the dark hair man beside her.

"You sound like you have a medical background."

"I used to work in a doctor's office."

"If you used to work in a doctor's office then why are you so afraid of going into a hospital?"

"No reason I feel particularly willing to discuss."

"It would seem your injury is worse than you let on, your sleeve is covered in blood. The bones in your shoulder could be been crushed."

Ally finally turned to Damon and challenged, "did any bone feel crushed or broken when you popped my arm back in?"

"No," Damon scrutinized. "It should have been a much worse injury."

"If my injury was more severe and I died would you have come to my funeral, Mr. Salvatore," Ally teased.

The way she teased struck a memory in Damon

"_Good afternoon, Damon. May I join you?"_

"_It would be a great privilege to have you sit next to me, Miss Hattie."_

"_I hear you have been inducted into the military. Congratulations. I do bid you to be safe."_

"_You know me, Miss Hattie. I am always safe."_

_Hattie giggled, "And it is because I know you, Damon, I do not believe you are always safe. A little reckless at times, in fact."_

"_I am hurt at the accusations you have just stated."_

"_I state the truth. I was taught not to lie."_

"_Of course,"_

" _Just promise me you will come back."_

_Damon smile while rising a hand to Hattie's cheek. "I will come back for you. I promise."_

_There was a comfortable pause in the short conversations. Both relishing in the company beside them._

"_If something were to happen to me, and I were to die. Would you come to my funeral?"_

"_Damon that is no way to speak," Hattie scolded. "It is not proper to discuss death and funerals in such company."_

"_It is a possibility, though, with me going off to war," Damon pressed. "I beg for an answer."_

"_I would be most upset at your funeral, Mr. Salvatore," Hattie whispered, wishing such a conversation would come to fruition. It was not something she wanted to think about._

"_Hattie!"_

_Hattie, hearing her name called stood from her seat and brushed off a few specks of dirt from her dress. "I have to go, Damon. Thank you for letting me sit with you."_

"_It was my pleasure, Miss Hattie."Damon smiled softly._

"_Will I see you before you leave?" Hattie hoped she would get to see the elder brother she had grown quite fond of before he left for war._

_Damon bent his head down in agreement."If you wish it be so then I will see you before I leave."_

"_Tomorrow?"_

"_Yes," Damon smiled. "I will see you tomorrow."_

"_Hattie, there you are. Your mother says she is ready to leave." Stefan strided up to his friend and brother, unconcerned about Hattie being left alone with someone who was not him and held out his arm for Hattie to take._

"_Of course, Stefan. Thank you," Hattie said as she walked away with her arm looped around Stefan, the younger Salvatore brother. She glanced over her shoulder before retreating into the house to look at Damon. He looked so alone looking up at the sky._

"Oh look, the Boarding house," Ally immediately jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped in order to avoid any more discussion regarding her injury. However, she didn't have as much luck as she had hoped with Damon had insisted her was going to get her something for it from upstairs.

"What happened earlier was a warning. If Ally hadn't somehow gotten Matt out of the way they would have both been hurt," Elena explained looking over to Ally sympathetically as she, Bonnie and Stefan entered the house. "Isobel wants the device and she proved the lengths she is willing to go to in order to get it."

"What's going on," Ally asked, looking between the three.

"Isobel has Jeremy."

"That dark haired vampire you were talking to earlier," Ally frowned.

"Yeah and she wants the device," Elena explained trying not to look panicked about her brother being taken.

"Where's the device," Bonnie wondered out loud to the room.

"Damon has it. He's going to be difficult to reason with," Stefan said causing Ally to shift anxiously.

"We can go talk to him. Better yet, Ally can talk to him. He has taken some kind of weird liking to her," Bonnie said with a smirk directed at Ally.

"He does not," Ally argued. All three pairs of eyes trained on her with disbelieving glances.

Ally was going to say something more but Stefan interrupted. "He's not going to just hand over a device that's harmful to vampires."

"What if it's no longer harmful," Elena said. "Bonnie could de-spell it."

"Absolutely not." Damon said descending the stairs carrying what looked like a sling. "I'm not going to trust some witch whose hatred for vampires goes back generations." He crossed over to Ally and thrust the sling into her hands. She glared and violently shook her head in defiance not wanting to use it.

"Just hear us out, Damon," Elena pleaded watching the interaction between the vampire and her Aunt's friend.

"No way. I like being a living dead person," Damon said, dodging Ally who was not trying to hit him with the sling. "Plus, I don't have the device anymore."

"What do you mean you don't have the device? Where is it, Damon?" The panic in Elena's voice was increasing.

Damon rushed behind Ally and gripped her around the waist trapping her against his body. "I gave it to someone who I knew would protect it and plus even if I did have it, I don't trust little-miss-witch-in-training to take the spell off. I tried to kill her once," Damon said, effectively pulling the splint over Ally's head and slipping her arm into it.

"Yeah you did try to kill me so you're right not to fully trust me," Bonnie said, trying to hide the grin watching Ally and Damon's interaction. "I can remove the original spell. It's simple especially since I have Emily's book."

"See, John and Isobel will never have to know," Elena decided.

Damon stepped away from Ally ignoring her sticking her tongue out at him childishly. "No. If it means that much to you, I'll go save Jeremy on my own."

"Yeah, and have him dead in seconds due to Isobel being a vampire. Use your head, Damon. Barging in or reasoning with Isobel are not options. I vote we use Bonnie," Stefan said standing in front of his brother so Damon couldn't leave the house to do anything stupid.

"Me too, now give me the device," Elena said holding out her hand towards Damon.

"I told you I don't have it anymore."

"Then go to the person and have them give it back. This is important, Damon," Elena stated, trying to get the older vampire to give in.

"You're awfully quiet over there," Damon addressed Ally. "Got anything to say on the matter?"

"You just forced me into a medieval holding device, what else do I have to say," Ally asked.

"You're kidding me, right," Damon laughed in disbelief. "You know what I am talking about."

"Damon, leave her alone. This isn't her decision," Elena sided with older woman in the room. It wasn't fair that Damon was trying to put this decision on her. "You are the one who has to make the choice. You can trust me."

"Yes, Elena it actually is Ally's decision," Damon snapped before turning back to Ally, his eye softening. "What's your choice?"

Ally sighed. "I chose to trust Bonnie," she said pulling the golden watch from her pocket and placing it in Elena's still outstretched hand.

Damon gave the brunette woman a furious glare. "I thought you were trying to protect the humans but… you know what? Do whatever you want with that," Damon said not exactly knowing why he was so upset about Ally's decision. Sure, de-spelling the device meant that he would not be harmed. He walked away from the group standing in the parlor.

Elena looked down at the golden device in her hands before looking up to meet the soft green eyes in front of her. "You had the device the entire time? Why didn't you just give it to us at the very beginning?"

"Because I didn't know what was the safer option. I wanted to protect you guys, but if you wholeheartedly believe that everything will be fine if the device is de-spelled than I trust you," Ally said.

"You can trust us," Elena said. She was absolutely convinced this was the correct decision. "C'mon, Bon. Do your thing." Bonnie nodded. gingerly placed the device on the coffee table in the middle of the living area preparing herself for the spell.

Ally stood behind everyone, but she had a clear view of Bonnie's face. Bonnie looked around the room before she began her spell and looked right at Ally who began mouthing something. Bonnie nodded in understanding and started the spell by placing her hands in position above the device. The lights in the room began to flicker as the device lifted into the air. Suddenly the fire in the fireplace roared, flames tripling in height, and the device dropped back onto the table with a muffled 'clink.'

"It's done," Bonnie said, stepping away from the table. Her eyes immediately caught Ally's who nodded in approval.

"How can we be so sure," Damon asked from his position leaning against the doorframe of the room.

"You can trust her. She has only done what has been asked of her," Ally clipped. "Come on ladies we need to get Elena ready for today's events." Both girls nodded. Bonnie pulled the keys to Ally's car out of her pocket and left the Boarding house. Elena gave Stefan a chaste kiss on the lips reminding him where to meet for the parade before she too left. The only person remaining with the two vampires was Ally. She looked between the brothers, gave a sigh, and was gone.

Damon looked after the light eyed brunette longingly. He had hoped that whole situation would have gone differently.

"At the risk of sounding like a jealous boyfriend…" Stefan began giving his brother a hard look.

"No risk, you do," Damon interrupted, regaining his composure and walking over to the bar behind the couch to pour himself a drink.

"History will not be repeating itself where Elena is concerned," Stefan said.

"Elena? Believe me brother, she is not the one I have interest in… for the moment." Damon smirked baiting his brother.

"Ally then. I will not stand by and watch you potentially hurt her."

"Are you having second thoughts about Elena, your epic love? Are you implying you are harboring feelings for Ally because she reminds you of Hattie."

"I do care for Elena, it just… It's different being around Ally, Damon. If she is in fact Hattie, she doesn't seem to have any interest in me. I am not the one able to hurt her if she isn't interested, but I can't not say I'm interested. I miss her."

"I know, Stefan. Some of the things Ally says are just like back then. Her smile is even the same. I know you still have those photos of the two of you hidden in your room somewhere. She still cares about you, Stefan, whether you choose to accept it or not."

"Is that why you're acting jealous? Because you are afraid she is going to chose me over you. Have actually developed feelings for her now that she doesn't look like a little girl anymore?"

Damon remained silent. His silence spoke louder than anything he would care to admit.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to write a review with your vote of who you think Ally should end up with... Stefan, Damon, or someone else! You are able to vote each chapter and vote once on my profile poll.**

**Always,  
orangezauber**


	10. Chapter 10: Last Warning

**Chapter 10**

* * *

"They really look beautiful don't they," Jenna commented looking at Miss Mystic Falls court and they're escorts taking pictures around the float. "Caroline did an amazing job as usual."

"Yeah, she is a task master alright," Ally laughed, unintentionally rubbing her arm as she thought about the events during the float set up.

Jenna caught the movement and asked, "So what happened to your shoulder again? You never told me what happened to it exactly."

Ally's eyes shifted slightly to give Bonnie a weary look. "I, uh… I was helping to lift the truck bed so Matt Donovan could work underneath. Apparently someone thought decided to jump on the top of the bed therefore crushing my poor shoulder."

"And you didn't think to use a jack or something instead of your shoulder to hold the truck up," Jenna inquired, shaking her head at her friend's stupidity.

"Yeah, yeah." Ally waved her friend's comment off. "Matt offered, but I wanted to look busy so I wouldn't feel the wrath of Caroline Forbes. It doesn't matter how much older you are than the girl… she's absolutely terrifying."

"Can't argue with you there," Jenna laughed. "That girl planned her entire surprise sweet sixteen, complete with charts, schedules, and specific gifts people were to bring. You were lucky you weren't here.

"Aunt Jenna," Elena called over to the group. "What do you think?" Elena spun a couple of times for them to get the full experience of the dress and hoop skirt.

"Straight out of 'Gone with the Wind," Jenna replied with a smile. Elena and Bonnie burst out laughing. "What is so funny about that?"

"That was exactly what Caroline was going for," Elena explained, giggling.

"It's her fantasy to be Scarlet," Bonnie added.

"You girls get close, I want to take a picture to commemorate this moment like a good guardian," Jenna said to the two teenage girls. They called over Caroline for the photo op, which the blond quickly accepted, smiling bright.

Ally caught sight of Stefan leaning against the float watching the three friends pose for photos. "Well, don't you look handsome," Ally complemented. "You look oddly comfortable wearing this old timey get up."

Stefan smiled at her comment regarding about his clothing. He decided to test her. "Thank you. I can see you wearing something of this era as well. Perhaps a stunning blue dress and soft curls?"

"Nah. Hoop skirts and corsets not my style. I prefer pants and the ability to breathe," Ally replied, with a laugh. She knew what Stefan was implying. He had been hinting more and more since she tried to convince him continue living.

"Oh, so you know what a corset is like… from experience I assume," Stefan commented.

"It's not very gentlemanly of you to comment on a lady's under garments, Mr. Salvatore." Ally playfully glared. "Haven't you learned any couth during your extensive life?"

"My apologies, Miss Whitworth," Stefan replied with a small smile, momentarily forgetting he was not back in his youth with his best friend.

"Carol Lockwood is telling us to get on the float," Elena said, interrupting Stefan's thoughts and bringing him back to the current century. "Ready?" Elena reached out her hand waiting for Stefan to take, which he took with only as slight hesitation, taking one last glace at Ally.

"Have fun," Ally called out to them. "Remember 'elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, touch your chest and blow a kiss.'" She reminded them how Caroline taught them how to wave on the float.

Elena turned around giving Ally one of Caroline's famous princess waves.

"That's it! Be the Mystic Falls Princess. You are a Mystic Falls Princess," Ally yelled. Elena turned around, her cheeks slightly pink.

"And I thought biological family was supposed to be the more embarrassing people on the planet," Jenna laughed as she approached her best friend.

"Well, you aren't embarrassing enough to your family," Ally said with a wink while linking arms with Bonnie. "Let's go find Sheila and find a good spot to watch the parade."

Ally, Bonnie, and Jenna searched the festivities for the elder Bennett witch. It was proving to be a somewhat difficult task weaving their way through the crowds of people gathered for the Founder's Day celebration. They finally found Sheila talking to someone but once she saw Bonnie and the others approaching she quickly ended the conversation biding the person a polite goodbye.

"Your friend Caroline cornered found me earlier and told me to pass on a message," Sheila said.

"We just saw Caroline," Bonnie sighed, but not surprised her friend could appear in a million different places at once. When she was in charge of an event she seemed to be everywhere, a trait that often baffled and amazed Bonnie at the same time. "What did she have to say?"

"She said she wants us on either side of the street so we can get the Miss Mystic Falls float from all sides," Sheila relayed the message which caused Bonnie to grumble a bit. She smirked a little knowing the young blonde's bossy nature often irritated her granddaughter.

"I guess we will need to split up," Jenna said.

"We'll be quick of it. The Miss Mystics court is the first float of the parade," Bonnie said. "I'll run over to the other side, take some pictures and cross back over to here."

"I'll go with her," Jenna volunteered. "I think Elena is supposed to be on the other side of the float." She and Bonnie went over to the other side of the street leaving Ally and Sheila.

After a couple of moments, Sheila turned to Ally. "There is something bad about today."

Ally nodded. "I smell a lot of nervous vampire energy."

"I thought so." Sheila looked around trying to spot any strange behaviors of the people surrounding them. No one seemed out of the ordinary as they got in positions to watch the parade. "I feel the disquiet of the spirits. They are trying to warn us of something about to come."

"Keep a vigilant eye then."

Ally and Sheila were no longer able to discuss their unease after Carol Lockwood's voice broke through air. She announced the beginning of the parade cuing the Mystic Falls High School band began to march down the street.

After the band had passed, the Miss Mystic Falls float rolled down the route showing off all it's 'Gone with the Wind' southern beauty. Carol presented the girls as they passed. "And let's give it up for the Miss Mystic Falls court, with our very own Miss Mystic Falls, Caroline Forbes. Aren't they beautiful?"

Ally made sure to take a multitude of pictures as the float slowly drifted by. Caroline saw her in the throngs of people and gave Ally, or Ally's camera, a bright smile and nudged Matt to do the same. Ally took pictures mostly of Caroline with Matt, knowing the vain streak the girl had, but made sure to photographically document ever flower as well.

Immediately after the innocent and pristine Miss Mystic Falls float was the bloody, rustic float recreating the Battle of Willows Creek. Several of the male high school students stood, garbed in blood-spattered uniforms and realistic looking weapons from the 1800s.

Tyler had briefly caught Ally's eye and glared at her. He was still angry about the older woman's ability to control his actions. When Ally saw him glaring, she gave him a small smile and a wave. The young Lockwood immediately turned away, resuming his role as solider.

There was a gap in the parade line allowing Bonnie and Jenna to rush over to the other side in order to rejoin Ally and Sheila. On their way over, a man bumped into Bonnie, barely muttering an insincere apology before walking off.

"Whoa," Bonnie said stumbling slightly. She was close enough now that Ally was able to stabilize her by the elbow.

"What," Ally questioned looking towards the slightly dazed witch. Her eyes watched the man—vampire—that just bumped into her charge.

"I just got a really bad vibe from that guy."

"I know that guy." Jenna explained, giving a disgusted look towards the retreating man. "Honesty, bad news."

Bonnie gave Jenna a startled look. "You've met him before?"

"Yeah, he tried to hit on me when I was drunk once." Jenna shuttered at the memory. "Good thing I had my trusty wing-woman with me otherwise I may have fallen prey to Mr. Creepy's advances." Jenna sent an amused and grateful smile to Ally.

"I recognize him too," Ally confirmed, knowing that the man was one of the vampires from the tomb. "How bad of a vibe did you get?"

"Like lots of people are going to die tonight," Sheila said ominously. "We have to get everyone out of the square before they become part of the slaughter."

"Absolutely not," Ally harshly replied, as she continued to push through the crowd towards the street. This man just proved that the tomb vampires had already infiltrated the sea of people watching the festivities. "There is no 'we.' You and Bonnie are going home where you will be safe."

"We are involved," Sheila stated. "Face it, darling, you need our witchy juju to make sure all these people are safe."

"The judgy witch is right," Damon said coming out from nowhere and lacing his fingers with Ally's before she had a chance to argue. Ally tried to tug her hand away, but Damon held it tight. "I'm pretty sure that guy was in the tomb and the others with him… let's just say, they are still holding a grudge against the founding families."

"How do you know there's going to be an attack," Ally inquired glancing sideways to Bonnie who had predicted death not two minutes ago. "Who would you know to tell you such information?"

Damon smirked. "I have someone on the inside of their little angry bird group."

"Damon, that's not something to joke about. You know how serious this town is about civilian safety. You have to tell the Sheriff and the Mayor; otherwise don't say things like that."

"Fine all joking aside, you need to get out of here and take Bonnie with you. They are going after founding family members and that includes you," Damon explained, still holding Ally's hand not letting her pull away as he looked into her eyes.

"You can't compel me, Damon," Ally glared defiantly at the crystal blue eyes looking at her. "I'm not going anywhere. At least not until I know everyone is safe."

"No, one is safe with the device de-spelled and I won't be the cause of you being in the middle of everything if I can prevent it," Damon pleaded, no longer paying attention to the two witches watching the interaction.

"But she didn't de-spell the device. So you technically have no one that needs your immediate protection."

"I wondered why you gave in so easy." Damon smiled softly. "Regardless, the tomb vamps are out for blood and I don't want you to be one of them… Please, Ally." Damon's plead came out in a whisper as he cupped Ally's cheek with that hand he was not using to hold on to her's.

"Fine," Ally relented. "Come on, Bonnie let's find the others and leave this popsicle stand," Ally addressed Bonnie. However before the two females left, Ally turned back to Damon. "Please find Stefan and Elena… and don't do anything too stupid."

Damon gave a sharp nod. "I'll warn them." He gave Ally's hand one last squeeze before disappearing from sight.

"You told him I didn't deactivate the device? Why would you do that," Bonnie angrily whispered as to not attract any more attention regarding the subject of the supernatural with Jenna so close.

"He's the one that gave it to me in the first place. I felt it was only fair to give him a warning." Ally shrugged not wanting to argue with the young witch any longer. She would allow Bonnie to berate her as long as she liked once they were all safe.

"What was that all about," Jenna asked, a slight irritation to her voice about being kept out of the loop especially when everyone knew what was going on, including Damon, except her.

"Damon is under the impression there are some angry people here tonight," Ally began to explain despite Bonnie's intense glares for her to shut up. She also ignored Sheila's protests and continued, "There is this counsel in town. They were created during the birth of the town to protect normal civilians and it's still active today. Apparently, there were some really dangerous people here at one time and the counsel ended up locking them up for a while. Somehow they escaped and according to Damon, they are out for blood."

"How do you know all this," Jenna asked, a little taken back by all this information but still unsure of its truth.

"The counsel is made up of founding family members and because I am technically a member of a founding family I was invited to be part of this group," Ally replied as they continued to push their way through the crowd in search for Elena and Stefan.

"Ally, you really should be talking about this to non-counsel members," Sheila said harshly.

"No, Jenna deserves to know this." Ally suddenly stopped, pulled out her phone and instructed Bonnie to call Elena. Then she ushered the group into a more secluded area and dropped her voice before addressing the red head directly. "Jenna, you should be aware of this because Elena, being part of a founding family, is in danger tonight. We have to find her and Jeremy and get them out of here."

Jenna suddenly looked terrified. She knew Ally was telling the truth because she hardly ever was serious about something and the tone of her friend's voice made it obvious this was a matter that held no room for joking. "Okay, I'll find Jeremy and you guys find Elena. I'm not a founding family member so I should be safe. Meet you at my house."

Ally nodded and watched Jenna quickly pull out her own phone and hurry in the opposite direction.

"You really should not have told her anything," Sheila reprimanded. "She is an innocent party and does not need to be pulled into these supernatural dealings."

"But her family is in the thick of it," Ally argued as they went back to their search. "I know you don't approve of involving Jenna, but I don't think hiding everything from her is a good idea. I know her. She would have resented us for it later if we didn't tell her. Jenna can be trusted."

"It's not important right now," Bonnie stepped between the two of them. "Elena isn't picking up her phone and neither is Stefan. So we have to find them before the vampires start killing people, but we can't do that if you both continue arguing."

"You're right," Ally conceded as she continued to scan the crowd for the familiar teenage face they were looking for, but her eyes caught another group of faces. "Bonnie, keep trying Elena. I see Caroline. I'll warn her."

"I will come with you," Sheila vowed looking at Ally. "You are a founding family member as well and you need some kind of protection."

Ally rolled her eyes muttering something about being the one to protect the Bennett's.

"Here, take your phone back. I will try Elena on mine and then call you if I find her," Bonnie said, giving the cell phone back to its owner. "Please make sure Caroline gets as far away from here as possible. I don't want to lose any friends tonight."

"You got it. Come on, Sheila." Bonnie separated from her Grams and Ally as the latter two hurried over to the bubbly blonde and the two high school jocks.

"Ally," Caroline exclaimed happily when she caught sight of the brunette woman approaching her. "I hope you took a bunch of good pictures. I mean, I saw you with your camera but who knows if you actually took any good ones. For all I know there might be a huge smudge of your finger on all of them."

"I assure you, there are plenty up to your standards," Ally quickly replied. "Listen, I need the three of you to get out of here. Now."

"But we'll miss the fireworks," Caroline pouted.

"There is something really bad that is going to happen when the fireworks start and the targets are the founding family members." Ally was getting frustrated that none of the three teenagers looked willing to leave. Caroline was pouting, Matt had a confused look on his face, and Tyler was glaring at the brunette.

"I'm sure we will be fine," Matt tried to reason. "We'll stick to being only in the crowd and if we see anything happening we will get out right away."

"Yeah, it's not like we are going to listen to you anyway," Tyler spat. "It's not like you are our mother."

Sheila put her hand on Ally's shoulder after seeing a dangerous flash behind the woman's eyes. "Don't do anything you will regret, darling."

"It's fine," Ally gritted her teeth. She then turned to Tyler, looking him straight in the eyes. When he tried to look away she grabbed his chin on either side and forced him to look at her. "You will get out of here and go home. You will take Caroline and Matt with you and you will not come back to the square tonight under any circumstances. Now go."

"Come on you guys," Tyler growled, having given in to allowing Ally making him do something once again.

"But the fire—" Caroline tried to argue, but Matt cut her off knowing not to piss Tyler off any further.

"Let's just go, Care." The three of them reluctantly walked towards the parking lot, away from the festivities.

Ally's phone rang just as she saw Tyler and the other's get into his car.

"I got a hold of Elena," Bonnie explained through the phone. "She and Stefan are a couple of buildings down from the old Apothecary."

"We'll be right there," Ally said hanging up. "Bonnie found Elena. They are on the opposite side of the square."

Sheila nodded and the two women hurried back through the crowd earning a few mumbled comments from disgruntled people as they pushed passed.

"Sheila you get Bonnie and both of you leave." She knew the witch as going to argue. "Please, Sheila. I can't protect all of you at once. Give me the peace of mind knowing you are away from the danger."

"Then take care, child," Sheila said, knowing it was a losing battle bickering with Ally.

They quickly found Bonnie standing with Elena and Stefan.

"Bon, you are leaving with your Grams. Elena you are leaving with me," Ally stated walking up to Elena and putting an arm around the younger girl's shoulders.

Bonnie reluctantly left with her Grams. She too knew when to fight with Ally and this was one situation she knew staying would make it harder.

"Bonnie just told us there's going to be an attack. I'm not leaving. We need to keep a close eye on thing and make sure no one gets hurt," Elena explained watching her friend leave.

"Well, Damon said his informant told him the attackers want to make a statement and what better way than to kill as many founding family members than during a town function."

"We have to find Jeremy first. Jenna would never forgive me if something happened. We can't lose him too," Elena argued.

"Jenna is on her way to find him and take him home. We need to get you to safety."

"But I am safe with Stefan, Ally."

"She right, I can protect her," Stefan agreed.

Ally rolled her eyes at the sheer stubbornness of the teens. "I have no doubt about that. But one false move and you could be hurt. I couldn't live with that. Jenna couldn't live with that. I have lived long enough to witness things a person should never see and I do not want that to….AHHHH!"

"Ally! What's wrong? What's going on?" Elena dropped to Ally's side trying to get her to stand. Then she noticed that Stefan had also fallen to the ground and was clutching his head.

"Oh my god, my head feels like it's splitting. What the hell is happening," Ally cried, clutching her head between her hands as if that stance would alleviate some of the pain.

Elena was pushed aside by two sheriff deputies. One of the deputies bent down and stuck Ally with a syringe.

"It's alright, miss. We'll take it from here," the other deputy said to Elena as he helped his partner subdue Ally.

" .Stefan," Ally whimpered through the pain slicing through her head as she was being lifted off the ground by a pair of police officers.

Elena was torn. She wanted to help Ally, but she could see another pair of officers approaching Stefan not too far from where she was standing. She didn't know why Ally fell to the ground, but she had a sinking feeling as to why. However, she didn't have much time to dwell on the reasons.

"Elena. GO!" Ally screamed through the pain before her head dropped as she was being carried off.

Elena turned to Stefan trying to block him from view of the officers just as Alaric joined her.

"I'll take it from here, guys. There's another one over there," Alaric addressed the officers, pointing into the crowd where another person just dropped to the ground clutching his head. As the cops ran off, Alaric turned to the couple before him, "Elena, what's wrong with Ally? Why are they taking her?"

"I don't know. She all of a sudden just dropped complaining of a splitting pain. It looks like Stefan's the same."

"They're collecting the vampires. Anyone who falls to the ground is getting a shot of vervain. I don't understand why it is affecting Ally though."

"Wait you said they _are_ collecting vampires. Does that mean that the device was never deactivated," Elena questioned as she helped her teacher drag Stefan off into a secluded stairwell.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. But Ally, I don't understand. She isn't a vampire."

"Ric, they're going to kill them," Elena suddenly realized. "Because Ally dropped, they're going to kill her too. We have to go get her."

"No, Elena. It's too dangerous," Alaric said pulling the girl back by the arm. "We can't be seen as sympathizing with them otherwise we are as good as dead too."

"Ric, I refuse to believe that Ally is a vampire. They can't kill her. I can't have anyone else I care about die," Elena struggled against Alaric's grip.

* * *

**A/N: This is the last chapter you are able to vote for who you think Ally should end up with! Even if you have already voted, vote one more time by merely dropping a name in a review! The winner will be revealed in the next chapter.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
Always,  
orangezauber**


	11. Chapter 11: Blood Sacrifices

Chapter 11

* * *

"Let go of me," Ally said weakly as the two deputies dumped her on the floor of the Gilbert building basement. Whatever that sound was had really messed with Ally's mind and made her feel both physically and mentally feeble.

"Hattie?" An extremely weak voice asked not far from where Ally was lying on the ground. Hearing the voice, Ally turned to find a weak raven haired girl who appeared to be no more than sixteen.

"Anna," Ally questioned seeing the girl struggling to move towards her.

"How are you… here," Anna questioned with a great effort. However, her attempt at a conversation was thwarted when a stake was plunged into her heart. The ashen veins of a final death spread across Anna's skin, her eyes never leaving Ally's until all light was gone behind them.

"No," Ally yelled. Tears immediately sprung forth at the loss of the girl before her.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? If it isn't Ally Whitworth. I knew there was something I didn't like about you?" Johnathan Gilbert stood a smug smirk on his lips as he looked over to Ally.

"Why the hell was that necessary, John," Ally clipped her eyes flooding with angry tears.

"She was a danger to my nephew. She had no business dating Jeremy." John spat out the word dating as if it was the worse concept he had ever heard of in his existence.

"Always knew you were a petty bastard."

"Say that again, Whitworth, and I will make sure you really suffer, not like the rest of these disgusting creatures in here."

"John, I swear if you lay a hand on me, I make sure you will never see your precious daughter again." Ally tried to call out John's bluff on making her suffer. She knew it was most likely futile because of what he had just done to Anna for showing a romantic interest in Jeremy. Ally wanted to push John's buttons as much as she could before he killed her.

"My daughter?"

"I know Elena is your daughter, John. And I know the easiest ways to hurt her if necessary," Ally said trying to sound more confident that she really was. She was still slightly weak from the effects of the device, but it was clearing up more as time went on. "You really do not want to see what I am capable when I am angry. And believe me when I say, I am getting angry."

"You would never do that. I see how you interact with her. You would never harm even a single hair on her head."

"Perhaps, but I know a few people who would help me keep her 'alive' just to torture you."

"You're bluffing." John glared at the woman in front of him.

Ally shrugged. "As you can see vervain does not harm me. I could run up these stairs and test that bluffing theory to you. She's not far from here. I can smell her."

"So you've built up a tolerance to vervain. The device still affected you, ergo you are a vampire."

"And I see you have yet again gotten your facts wrong, John. I am not, nor will I ever be a vampire." Out of the corner of her eye Ally could see movement. Her eyes flickered over to see Damon on the ground, staring straight at her.

"But you associate with Vampires and you don't age therefore you must be one."

Ally rolled her eyes back to look at John. "And you also associate with vampires and cheat death. How is that much different?"

Growing frustrated John stabbed Ally in the stomach with the same stake he had used to kill Anna. "And you heal abnormally fast. What are you going to do, Whitworth? Bite me? I know you have Jenna, Elena, and everyone else fooled into thinking you are someone kind and normal, but I know differently."

"That's because I have more kindness in my heart than you," Ally groaned doubled over with pain at the hole now in her stomach. She looked at Damon again who appeared as though he was about to say something, but Ally gave him a meaningful look shaking her head against his interfering. Ally spoke to John again, "At least I don't go around killing people who are innocent such as Anna."

"I already told you, she was hardly innocent. I am here to protect my family against soulless bloodsucking killers like you. "

"Do you have any proof as to what you assume I am? No?" Ally tried to rise but she barely stood to her full height before leaning against the nearest wall. "What's the matter, John, afraid of me?"

John stabbed Ally again in the same spot as before. Ally cried out again and as she went down to her knees, John picked up some chains from the ground and secured Ally to the staircase rails. "How are you able to get up? They injected enough vervain in you to keep you down for hours."

"I feel like we are just talking in circles now. I already told you, I'm not a vampire, therefore vervain doesn't affect me." Ally choked and struggled against the chains.

"But Isobel said Katherine knew you back in 1864 and you obviously knew that filth Anna."

"Did Isobel say if Katherine knew Hattie Whitworth or Ally Whitworth because let me assure you, one of them is not like the other." Ally's eyes slide over to Damon once again. Damon noticed there was something in her eyes indicating some kind of cryptic message which revealed a dark secret.

"It doesn't matter what you are because the device affected you proving you are a danger to the town and my family. Now if you excuse me, I must burn the evidence that vampires ever existed in current day Mystic Falls. Goodbye, Ally Whitworth or whatever you are called. See you in Hell." John stabbed Ally once more, this time directly in the chest. Ally let out a strangled breath as she crumpled against the chains holding her upright.

"No," Damon hissed watching in horror as blood blossomed across Ally's blouse and she struggled to breath.

John turned towards Damon for the first time, surprised the older Salvatore brother was also able to move. The surprise quickly melted into an arrogant smirk on John's face at seeing the extremely weak vampire protesting about Ally. "Nothing you can do, Salvatore. It will be so satisfying to see you and Whitworth up in flames with the rest of this murderous filth."

"How could you do that," Damon croaked. He knew John held no remorse for what he had done. Ally had wronged him and that was all the reason John needed to kill her.

"It was easy. She was a torn in my side. Have fun burning." With that John lit a match and threw it in the corner of the room and left.

Damon watched as the flames engulfed the basement. "Ally, Ally. You have to wake up. C'mon. Please." He tried to crawl over to the woman he had quickly grown to care about, but the smoke was quickly filling his lungs hindering his movements. Even though her eyes were shut, Damon could still hear the slow, dying murmur of her heart.

"Damon!"

"Stefan?" Damon was momentarily distracted hearing his brother call for him.

"Come on, let's go, brother. We don't have much time." Stefan quickly rushed down the stairs hearing Damon weakly say his name. Stefan picked up Damon and made a move to leave, but Damon protested.

"No…no…we can't."

Stefan chose to ignore whatever reason, Damon didn't want to leave. It would only be a matter of seconds before the fire trapped them both. So Stefan tightened his hold on his brother and quickly made his way out of the burning building without so much as a glace around at the other bodies scattered throughout.

As soon as the brothers were outside, Damon began protesting even more to get back into the building. "No. We have to go back in! We have to get her out."

"Damon. The building is too far gone. It's too dangerous to go back in."

"Please! I am going in with or without you. We have to save her. I owe her that."

"Who? Who do you owe?"

"Ally," Damon yelled in desperation.

Elena gasped. "Oh, god! Stefan, I completely forgot. Ally collapsed when the device went off. She must have been taken inside the building with the others."

"That's not possible," Stefan said slowly as though he didn't believe his own words.

"We can have this pow-wow when she is out of there but, I am not going to leave her body to burn. I have to go back in there and get her."

"Body," Sheila questioned bringing everyone's attention on to her. She wasn't going to address either of the vampires, but upon hearing that Ally could be dead already she broke her personal vow. "You mean she's dead?"

As much as Damon wanted to snap at the witch, he knew it wouldn't do any good to cross the person who potentially just saved his skin. "I'm pretty sure it would be hard to survive, John Gilbert stabbing her in the chest before setting the place on fire. If the wound to the chest didn't kill her than breathing in smoke in her weakened state would."

"Oh my Lord, I cannot believe this," Sheila replied with tears in her eyes. Then her demeanor changed quickly as an idea passed through her mind. She turned to Bonnie for help. "Bonnie I need you to hold off the flames so we can get her out now before her body too much damage is done."

"Grams, why can't you—"

Sheila had no time to argue with Bonnie. "I need to save my strength for what I am about to do."

"What are you going—" Bonnie again started to ask but was cut off by her grandmother.

"If what I am about to do does not work then I want you to take care of yourself, Bonnie. Make sure your father does as well. And once Ally is okay tell her 'thank you' for her friendship and guidance over the years." Sheila needed her granddaughter to do as she was told without stalling any longer.

Bonnie listened to her grandmother not believing what was coming out of the older woman's mouth. "Grams no! I still need you. You can't just leave me like this. I don't know how to be a witch without you."

Sheila placed a hand on Bonnie's tear stained cheeks. "This is my decision, child, and Ally will be able to protect you far better than I could. She has been protecting this family for years. I love you, Bonnie. Don't ever forget that."

"Grams…" Bonnie choked, finally understanding what her grams was planning.

"Now Bonnie before we lose our chance and she is gone forever."

"I love you too, Grams," Bonnie said before she started chanting the spell to retard some of the flames. Tears were already flowing down her eyes in anticipation.

"I need one of you to go down there and get her. Bonnie can only old off the flames for so long," Sheila said turning to the two vampires.

"Then I'll go again. I can get in and out quicker," Stefan said stepping forward before Damon had a chance. If Ally was down there he would not take the chance on losing her… for himself or for Damon.

"Stefan, no. The flames could destroy you," Elena protested trying to hold him back

"He's right, Elena," Sheila replied. "Stefan is the better choice to go down there and get her out safely. Damon is too compromised from already being stuck down there." As much as Damon wanted to be the one to bring Ally back, he knew the witch was right. Stefan was the better choice in terms of strength for once.

" Ready, Stefan," Sheila asked, her voice slightly softer.

"Yes." Stefan nodded.

Sheila looked over to Bonnie who had her eyes closed; chanting the spell to keep the flames low and then she gave Stefan the go ahead. He rushed back into the burning building.

Quickly scanning the smoky basement, Stefan spotted an unconscious brunette chained to the banister, close to where he found Damon. How could he have missed seeing her the down here before? He was too focused on getting Damon out that he never thought that Ally might have been here as well.

"STEFAN! Hurry! Bonnie can't hold on for much longer," Elena screamed into the building.

Stefan heeded the cries for him to hurry up from above and quickly broke the chains around her. Before Ally hit the floor, Stefan scooped her up and ran coughing for the exit. Halfway up to the fresh air, the stairs buckled under his feet. At the last step the entire staircase gave away. Stefan threw Ally's body through the door right before he sunk with the staircase. A hand grabbed at him, pulling him up to safety.

Stefan looked up to see his brother smiling weakly at him. "Thank you, Damon."

"It was the least I could do for you saving her, brother." Damon smirked. "Now, c'mon, before the entire building collapses on us."

Damon lifted Ally into his arms as he and his brother exited the ablaze Gilbert building.

As soon as they had made it out of the burning building they saw the older Bennett collapse causing Bonnie to immediately stop her chanting and cry out for her grandmother.

In a panic, Bonnie fumbled trying to check Sheila's neck for a pulse and breathed in relief when she felt a faint one. "Grams! Thank goodness."

"I'm alright, child but, we are not quite finished," Sheila whispered, taking a small pocket knife out and slicing a thin line across the palm of her hand. "Lay her in front of me."

Damon did as he was told, laying Ally in front of the exhausted witch. He was about to protest when Sheila violently pulled the steak out of Ally's heart, but Stefan held him back. All they could do was watch as the older witch pressed her bloody palm to the bloody hole in Ally's chest.

"Bonnie, I need you to press on Ally's chest like you are performing CPR while I finish this spell," Shiela said, her voice becoming more clear as she took charge.

Without argument, Bonnie removed any obstructions from Ally's chest, including the celestial necklace she Bonnie had never seen Ally without. There was a clear burn mark from the necklace becoming over heated and burning Ally's skin. Sheila began chanting a spell as Bonnie began the compressions just below of Ally's sternum.

The air around them three of them seemed to glow as the spell encased them. After a few more moments, the glow disappeared and Sheila stopped chanting. She placed a hand on Bonnie's shoulder to indicate she could stop. "Let's get her home."

"I'll take her," Damon volunteered.

Sheila nodded. She could see that the vampire cared for the young woman she called her friend.

* * *

Ally woke with a gasp and immediately broke into a fit of coughing. "What the…"

"We brought you here to watch over you," Bonnie said from the side of the bed.

"What happened last night," Ally asked sitting up clutching his head.

"You don't remember?" Bonnie said. The look on her face indicated that she was concerned; almost waiting as though something was about to happen.

"Bits and pieces. Something doesn't feel right," Ally said looking between Bonnie and an ashen looking Sheila on the other side of the bed. "Why do I feel different?"

Bonnie and Sheila didn't answer right away. Ally knew from their lack of answer that something horrible had happened. "What happened? Tell me! What happened?"

"Grams did a spell…" Bonnie couldn't finish what kind of spell her grandmother had performed due to a sob that had erupted from her throat.

But Ally didn't need Bonnie to tell her what kind of spell because she was pretty sure what ever the spell the older witch had performed was not a light hearted one. "Sheila?"

Sheila tried to give the two of them a reassuring smile. "Shh, child, I don't have much time."

"Sheila, what did you do? Something about this doesn't feel right." Panic was starting to show on Ally's face. She really hoped her friend did not cast the type of spell to—

"I'm going to die."

"What?" Saying she was going to die was exactly what Ally did not want to hear.

"I did a spell to make you survive. I need you to look after Bonnie."

"Sheila! You didn't!" And that was really something Ally hoped she would not hear coming out of her friend's mouth.

"I did it because Bonnie still needs your protection and now you are protected through our bloodline. Please, take care of her." Ally just sat there wishing that Sheila was not saying that she sacrificed herself for Ally's sake. "It was to protect you."

"I've been through this before with you Bennett witches. You don't need to protect me," Ally cried out in protest, getting up out of the bed. It was at that moment a vicious pain erupted through Ally's chest. It was as though her heart literally ripping itself to pieces. As Ally dropped to the floor in agony, Sheila dropped to the floor as well and just like that the pain was gone only to remain as a dull throb.

"Grams," Bonnie screamed rushing over to her grandmother on the floor on the other side of the bed.

"No! Sheila no,no, no."," Ally yelled crawling over to Sheila's body. She checked for any vitals signs… heart, pulse, breath, but nothing was there. All that could be heard were the sobs from Bonnie. Sheila Bennett, one of the strongest women Ally had ever met in her life, had sacrificed herself so that Ally could continue to live.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing and voting up to this point! Voting has now ended and the tally is in, Ally's primary romantic interest will be... Damon! The full blown romance might take a few chapters to start. But in the mean time... What do you think Ally's true involvement is in the supernatural world?**

**Thanks again for reading!  
Always,  
orangezauber**


	12. Chapter 12: Anger Rising

**_Chapter 12_**

_**"There's a natural law of Karma that vindictive people,**_  
**_who go out of their way to hurt others,  
_****_will end up broke and alone."  
-_****_-Sylvester Stallone_**

* * *

_"Darling, it has been days. Perhaps you should spend some time outside today. It is not healthy for a young girl to isolate in the dark," Hattie's mother said as she gently stroked her daughter's matted hair._

_"It just hurts, mother. I miss them," Hattie sighed, toying with her necklace and just taking comfort in her mother's loving touch. A couple of days after Stefan told her he was going to die, the town gathered all the known witches and burned them at the stake near the edge of town. Hattie had wanted to help prevent such a bloodbath, but Emily had made her promise to get her children safely out of town before the gathering of the witches. Once Hattie had gotten all the Bennett children to safety the next town over, she returned home feeling empty. Without her closest friends to keep her from being isolated, Hattie retreated to bed with the shades drawn and only her sorrows to keep her company._

_"I know it can be difficult," her mother soothed, "However, there comes a time when one must move on no matter how impossible it seems."_

_Hattie sniffed as she tried to hold back the never ending angry tears. "I feel different since that night… angrier, so full of rage. Sometimes I feel as though I want to cause other people pain… physical pain."_

_"A traumatic experience can change a person, my sweet girl. Witnessing the death of multiple friends can take a toll, but we mustn't act on those harmful feelings," Hattie's mother talked as she stood from the bed and walked over to the shade drawn windows. The moonlight may seem bright, but it still hides in the dark. We must allow the sun to shine through even on our darkest of days." She pulled the shades to the side allowing the bright sunlight to fill the room._

_Hattie groaned when the sun hit her face. Her eyes taking some time to adjust to the light. "I'm not ready to go outside yet."_

_"Stefan, Damon, and Emily would not want to have you cooped up in your room."_

_"I suppose not, but I am not ready to face the world. Will you do it for me?"_

_"Of course not, darling. However, I will come with you."_

* * *

"Your cell is ringing again," Bonnie said effectively pulling Ally out of her previous thoughts. "And surprise, surprise, it's Damon… again."

It had only been a couple of days since the Founder's Day incident which took Sheila Bennett's life. Bonnie and Ally had not left the older witch's house since watching Sheila's body being taken away to the funeral home to be kept until the service.

"That's great for Damon. I can't stop thinking about how she wouldn't be gone if he hadn't insisted on saving me," Ally sighed, accepting the mug Bonnie had just handed to her and just staring at its contents. "I don't know why he was so insistent on saving my life."

"As much as I want to put full blame on Damon Salvatore, I can't," Bonnie confessed. "I wouldn't have wanted you to die either."

"She didn't have to die," Ally repeated still staring into her mug.

Bonnie shook her head. "I agree, but she loved you like family."

"You Bennett witches are always saving me," Ally sighed. "But I will continue to protect you so your Gram's death will not be in vain."

"Cheers to that," Bonnie said with a small smile holding out her mug to Ally's in salute.

Ally mimicked the gesture and both of them took a sip of their tea. A second later, Ally began coughing violently when the hot liquid reached the back of her throat. She struggled to hold onto the mug without spilling anything during her coughing fit.

"You don't have to drink it, you know. We could find another way to control—" Bonnie began to suggest looking at her friend with concern. She knew there was nothing she could do to prevent what was happening. She just hated watching Ally consume the special tea her Grams created 'just in case.'

"Unfortunately, there really isn't unless you kill me within the next few of days," Ally replied hoarsely taking yet another sip of tea. "Ugh. It's a bitch trying to swallow this."

Bonnie glared at Ally regardless of the continued coughing. "No killing. I am not losing two people I care about most in a span of a few days of each other. We will just have to find your necklace."

"Well, we have less than three days to locate it," Ally said before downing the rest of her cup, making another pained face as she did.

"Before you turn into a 'pumpkin,'" Bonnie joked to lighten the mood.

Ally laughed despite her sore throat. "Yeah, before I turn into a 'pumpkin.'"

There was silence between the two for a few minutes until Bonnie's phone chirped indicating a new text message. "Caroline is still in the hospital and apparently doing much better," Bonnie read off her phone. "I don't really feel like I can face the world alone after what happened."

Ally smiled at the memory of her voicing those same thought to her mother when she was young. "You don't have to, Bon. Your Grams just died because she got involved with the supernatural world."

"Ally, I already told you to stop blaming yourself. She would have tried to save you regardless."

"It just hurts. Like physically causes pain."

"That's because she performed some kind of linking spell which caused you to switch places."

"How do you know that?"

"She mentioned it during one of our training sessions and then I found it last night while looking through the Grimoure."

"And you're choosing now to tell me this?"

"I didn't think it was important."

"Not important? Bonnie! One of the people I swore to protect, linked my life to hers. Her normal mortal life was linked to a person who was born over a hundred and sixty years ago. Doesn't that sound insane and unnecessary to you?"

"Ally, we're talking in circles and you're getting agitated again."

"Damn right, I'm agitated!"

"Ally, you need to breath. You're emotions are running super high right now."

"Don't you get it?! It hurts to breath! It hurts to think! It all just fucking hurts!" Ally began sobbing in the middle of her outburst, the rage and guilt becoming too much for her emotionally. She wanted to stay strong for Bonnie, but was unable to keep it all in.

During her emotional breakdown, the first one she truly had since Sheila's death, Ally's phone began to incessantly ring. Without looking, she picked up the phone. "Yeah?"

"Ally? Do you need me to bring you anything," Jenna's voice sounded from the other side of the phone.

Ally took in a shaky breath. "No, Jenna. I'm fine. Just a bit of a head ache and sore throat from all the ugly crying I've been doing."

"I can imagine. I was the same way when my sister died not that long ago," Jenna explained. "I'm just checking to see how you and Bonnie are doing. Elena is going crazy since she hasn't heard from Bonnie. I told Elena to give her some time, but she was insistent."

"She could have called Bonnie to check in herself." Ally rolled her eyes.

"That's what I told her, but she wants to give Bonnie space."

"Well, she's doing well considering," Ally shrugged even though Jenna couldn't see. "We both are."

"Elena says she's glad and something about being sorry and—"

"Wait, wait. Jenna I'm going to pass the phone to Bonnie so she and Elena can talk," Ally said giving Bonnie a significant look before handing over the phone.

"Elena," Bonnie said quietly. Her voice was watery from crying with Ally a few moments previous.

"I'm sorry I haven't tried to reach out to you guys the past couple of days. I just wanted to give you each space with everything that has gone on plus with what happened to with Carloline and my uncle John—" Ally was about to walk into the kitchen to get some more tea, preferably some with honey instead of witch's brew she had been given earlier, however hearing the comment about Elena's uncle made her pause.

Ally narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why is her uncle here? He's still in town?"

"What happened to John," Bonnie translated into the receiver.

"Um, he had a cooking mishap… his fingers were sliced clean off," Elena replied nervously.

"Cooking mishap? He deserved it," Ally pointed out.

"Is he okay," Bonnie asked, rolling her eyes at Ally's comment.

"He'll make a full recovery," Elena quickly said before changing the subject, "listen, I have to go. I promised Caroline I would make sure the carnival was running smoothly while she's in the hospital. But, if you or Ally need something please don't hesitate to ask. I know she's been in contact with Aunt Jenna, but just in case I can do something."

"Wait! Ask her if she happens to know where my necklace went," Ally told Bonnie before Elena had the chance to hang up.

"Hang on, Elena. You haven't seen Ally's necklace have you? She's been going mad not being able to find it. It means a lot to her."

"The one that looks like a moon?"

Ally could hear the nervousness in Elena's voice when the necklace was mentioned. "Yes," Bonnie confirmed.

"I don't know where it went. I thought you had removed it during the spell."

"She's lying," Ally whispered.

"I put it down next to her, but I don't remember it being there when Grams and I took Ally back to the house," Bonnie sniffed at mentioning one of the last things she had done with her Grams.

"Damon might have it then." Elena still sounded nervous which confirmed for Ally that Damon did have the necklace but her friend's niece was trying to cover for the vampire.

"Damon has it? Elena, I need my necklace," Ally said loudly, grabbing the phone.

"I'm sure Damon still has it. I can check for you later."

"No, Elena, You don't understand. I need that necklace now."

"Ally, you just got out of a traumatic experience. I'm sure it is important to you, but you lost someone important to you. We can get the necklace from Damon in the morning."

"Listen, Elena, and listen closely," Ally gritted her teeth, could feel her anger spike and she was trying to keep it from bubbling up. She could tell based on how uneasy Elena was becoming that she knew exactly why her necklace had not been returned. "I felt like my head was tearing itself apart from the inside out, I was injected with an herb that only harms vampires, I was stabbed twice in the stomach by your crazed father, once in the heart, knocked out and chained up by the same crazed man, and left to die in a burning building. Come to find out that I was dead but brought back to life because Sheila Bennett sacrificed her life for mine! The last thing I need is to lose control because one of the fang brothers took my necklace."

"Damon's going to be at the carnival tonight," Elena quickly replied. "I'm sorry, Ally. He didn't want me to tell you he had it, but you're right it's yours."

"Thank you, Elena," Ally calmed slightly, but she could still feel her blood boiling in agitation.

"I understand the importance of a necklace," Elena replied touching the necklace Stefan had given her—not that Ally or Bonnie was able to see. "I'll see you later. I have to go finish setting up for the high school carnival. I'm no Caroline, but I think it should be good."

Ally hung up the phone before darkly muttering, "No, Elena. You will never understand the importance of this necklace."

"Are you going to get your necklace," Bonnie asked worriedly as she was noticing Ally mood becoming increasingly darker again.

"Yeah, if I don't I might really lash out," Ally explained. "I am so sorry I have been putting you through all this."

"Don't worry about it," Bonnie said putting a hand on Ally's shoulder. "We all grieve in our own way."

"It's no excuse for me to yell at you," Ally sighed, even though her teeth were still pressed tightly together as she tried to control her anger. "None of this is your fault."

"I know. Now go find that necklace before you run out of time and end up eating me as a midnight snack."

"You're safe from being a snack for a couple more days."

"As comforting as that is, you should go."

"You might have to go with me in order to keep me on the short lease," Ally provided a small smile. "I might have to take my anger out on a certain vampire."

Bonnie smiled herself. "Like you said, you're over 160 years old. I'm pretty sure you can manage on your own."

"Where did you get that," Stefan asked in shock as he saw what his brother was holding in his hands. "Ally was wearing that."

"If you knew who it belongs to brother, why did you ask where I got it?

"You took that from her?"

"The young judgey witch took it off and left it on the ground. I merely retrieved it before it would be damaged."

"And why haven't you given it back?"

"She won't answer her phone. I'm sure she thinks it's my fault the Bennett witch is dead."

"And holding onto her necklace will change her mind? Damon, that thing is really important to her. She refused to take it off when I challenged her about it."

"There's something significant about this thing. It must have some kind of magical properties if she refused to part with it and if she is so desperate to get it back."

"Maybe it's just sentimental. A family relic or something."

"Yeah sure, like these," Damon said holding up his hand with the daylight ring. "The device affected her too, Stefan. Do you think she's a vampire?"

"No, we would have known if she was. Plus you said the vervain didn't affect her."

"But why would she need some sort of magical pendant if she isn't a vampire or a witch?"

"We'll give it back to her tomorrow morning like promised if we couldn't find anything momentous about it. Plus that way we will be able to see if she can walk in the sun without it and if she can than she isn't a vampire."

"Or you could give it back to me now and not play these silly little mind games."

Both Damon and Stefan turned back in surprise. Neither one of them had expected to see the woman out of her isolation. "Ally, how did you…" Stefan started.

"Doesn't matter. Please may I have my necklace back," Ally questioned harshly, not anticipating being pleasant until she had her necklace safely around her neck. Ally's anger was only increasing, but was holding it in as best as she could.

"Here." Stefan grabbed the necklace from Damon's grasp and handed it back to its proper owner.

Damon glowered at his brother, hissing, "Stefan don't give it to her before we get answers."

"There are no answers to give. I am not a vampire," Ally said already feeling a sense of calm wash over her as she grasped the trinket tightly in her hand.

"Then what are you," Damon challenged.

A smirk appeared on the woman's lips as she clasped the chain around her neck and hid the charm under her shirt. "Wouldn't the two of you like to know."

"Is there a problem over here," a man asked as he approached the trio. Ally immediately stiffened.

"No problems here. Just a friendly chat among friends," Damon said

"Didn't sound very friendly to me," the man remarked looking between the three.

"Well, perhaps you should get your ears checked," Damon sarcastically quipped.

"My ears work extraordinarily well, I assure you." The guy smirked as if he had just said something of a private joke. "I'm Mason Lockwood, by the way."

"Damon Salvatore and this is my younger brother, Stefan." Mason shook both brother's hands in turn. Each one of them glaring as they did so.

Mason's smile returned. "Ah. Tyler mentioned something about you guys being new to town. Apparently you have quite the Quarterback's arm," Mason said addressing Stefan before turning towards Ally. "And who are you? You seem very familiar but I can't quite put my finger on in."

"Ally."

Mason laughed. "What no last name? You only have one like Cher or Madonna?"

"I'm more of a Prince fan," Ally said staring into Mason Lockwood's eyes, almost as if she was willing him to leave.

"Alright, we'll save the last name for another time. Nice to meet all of you." Mason said following the unsaid command without thought. And with no looking back he walked back over to the table where his nephew had just won yet another arm wrestling challenge.

"Did you feel the grip of his hand-shake? Definitely not normal," Stefan said once he thought Mason Lockwood was out of earshot.

Damon agreed. "Yeah, it was way too strong to be human."

Ally quickly wrote a message on her phone and then showed it to Stefan and Damon: ***_Don't talk. That Mason guy wasn't exaggerating about his hearing* _**

"How do you know," Stefan whispered out loud.

"Trust me. I just know," Ally replied quietly.

"What is he a crime fighting turtle, or a vampire eating werewolf or some other fairy-tale creature?"

Ally just shrugged, trying her hardest not to show any indication that Damon had unintentionally guessed what creature Mason Lockwood actually was. "Don't worry about it, for now." She was about to walk away but something or rather someone stopped her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. First you ignore me for days, then you come all demanding, and now you are hiding something you know," Damon said grabbing onto Ally's arm keeping her in place.

"I don't take kindly to people touching me without my permission, Damon. Especially, when I am in one of my moods."

"Ally, please. Just talk to me," Damon pleaded. He desperately wanted her to talk to him. So many questions were cluttering his mind ever since they had almost been burned to a crisp.

"Don't get on my bad side, Damon. I'm not in the mood to argue."

Damon raised his hands up in surrender. "Fine. Keep your secrets for now. It's hard enough to talk to you when you aren't being so bipolar with your mood."

"We have to go," Stefan interrupted before a fight could break out between the two of them. Suddenly Stefan went rigid. "I smell blood and a lot of it."

Before Ally even had a chance to focus on what Stefan said, Damon had grabbed a hold of her hand and began running towards the smell. When they stopped, they where near the parking lot. The smell of blood intensified one hundred fold. Out of the corner of her eye, Ally saw a flash of blonde.

"Caroline," the brunette yelled catching the teen's attention. Blood was dripping down the poor girl's chin, her eye full of remorse.

"I'm so sorry," Caroline apologized. "I couldn't help it. Something took over me and forced me to… oh God… I-I killed him! Why did I do that," the blonde continued to wail.

In the midst of the chaos, Elena arrived on the scene. She looked around, upon seeing the bloodied man in the back of the truck and the blood on her best friend's face, she too began to scream. "Caroline, No! You can't be!" Ally immediately rushed to Elena's side, enveloping her in a hug in order to hide her face from seeing Caroline.

"We have to do something about this," Damon muttered. He grabbed an anchoring stake from one of the tent booths nearby. "We can't afford having a baby vampire running amuck." Rising the stake he thrust it towards the new vampire, but at the last second it did not hit its intended target. Instead of stabbing a blonde, the stake had struck a brunette.

"Ally," Elena screamed.

"I can't let you kill her, Damon," Ally said as she stumbled foreword into his arms. Blood ruining yet another shirt as it blossomed from the around the wound in her chest. Stefan looked on in horror as he watched his brother stab another of his best friends, but unlike Lexi, Ally did not turn ashen.

"No. I just got you back. I am so sorry," Damon whispered, his words laced with guilt. He cupped her face with one hand while the other held her head up. He quickly bit into his wrist and was about to press his bloodied wrist to Ally's mouth when his head suddenly exploded with pain.

Bonnie appeared from the parking lot, her hand outstretched as she increased the amount of blood vessels popping in Damon's head. Rage was filling her mind as she watched Stefan trying to hold Caroline back so she could not get to the crimson fluid. Instead of thinking of way to save Ally, she only thought of ways to kill Damon, the cause of yet another death. Even though she had defended Damon's decision to keep Ally alive that did not mean she did not blame him for the past and future deaths of the people of Mystic Falls.

"Bonnie, stop. I know what you are thinking. Killing Damon is not the answer no matter how tempting he makes it," Ally winced as she stake shifted as she spoke.

The words from Ally seemed to snap Bonnie out of her trance. "But you're dying because of him. He deserves to be killed."

"I will not have you turn into a killer. The only one who will be killing Damon Salvatore is some bitch he has royally pissed off." Ally croaked, reaching up with both hands to grasp Damon's face. "And that's me." And in one swift maneuver she snapped the elder Salvatore brother's neck before he had any time to process what she was about to do. "That's for not giving back my necklace, trying to kill Caroline, and because I know you are going to be a huge dick to Bonnie because she tried to fry your brain."

The remaining three looked on in surprise at the scene that just played out. They continued to watch is a stunned silence as Ally fumbled to pull the stake out of her upper body, sighing in relief as the wood was removed. She slowly sat up and ran a hand over her chest where the hole was already starting to slowly heal. "Well, that hurt."

Stefan knew this was not the time to demand answers, but he felt he had to ask one. "Wait, how are you still alive?"

"That is an excellent question," Ally replied, tugging at her blood stained shirt, a little unsure as well as to why she remained living.

"Ally are you okay," Elena gasped as she ran over after hearing a commotion.

"Yeah. Your boyfriend's brother tried to kill Caroline but stabbed me instead," Ally explained, trying to make it sound less of a big deal than the situation actually had been. "I could definitely be better."

"Care, are you okay then," Elena stopped when she saw the vein protruding from her blonde friend's eyes.

"Get away from me," Caroline screamed, trying to hide behind Stefan. "You killed me! You made me like this!"

Stefan pulled her into his side as he explained that it wasn't Elena who killed her but a vampire named Katherine. "But why does she look like you," Caroline questioned.

"I don't know," Elena said.

"Wait, Katherine's back in town," Ally asked, her eyes flashing with underlying loathing.

"You know her," Elena looked over in surprise, momentarily forgetting the strong possibility that Ally was Hattie Whitworth.

"Yes, but I really wish I didn't," Ally seethed, remembering the pain Katherine had caused her when she was younger. "We should all go somewhere more private to continue this conversation."

"We can go to the boarding house," Stefan suggested.

Ally nodded in approval. "Stefan you take Caroline and Damon. Elena, Bonnie and I will meet you there in my car."

"Okay. See you there."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! Slight Damon/Ally moment in this chapter. It will take a while for them to officially become a couple. **  
**Ally is obviously supernatural... Do you think Ally's lying about not being a Vampire? What do you think she is?**

Always,  
orangezauber


	13. Chapter 13: Bite or be Bitten

**Chapter 13  
***~*~*  
**Bite or be Bitten**

* * *

"Good evening, dick-shine," Ally quipped as she leaned over the back of the couch when Damon began to wake.

His eyes shot open at the sound of her voice. "You snapped my neck."

"I did," Ally said with no hint of sorrow or regret on her part. "You stabbed me in the heart."

"You were not my intended target," Damon argued back as he sat upright, swinging his feet onto the floor.

"You had no right trying to kill another human being," Ally continued to bicker, while pouring herself a drink from Damon's stash.

"You have no control over my decisions and you do not have permission to drink my alcohol," Damon said snatching the crystal glass of bourbon out of Ally's hand.

"So you were trying to kill me," Ally taunted, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes.

"In retrospect, killing you seems like a perfect solution to you endless nagging."

"Well, you are a giant—"

"Okay, enough," Stefan shouted over the squabbling pair. "We have more important things to discuss other than the two of you placing blame on each other for ridiculous things."

"I don't think him trying to murder me is a ridiculous thing," Ally murmured earning a sharp glare from Stefan.

"Listen, we know that Katherine in back and we have to take some precautions," Stefan continued to explain, ignoring all added snide comments from either Damon or Ally. "We already know she has pretended to be Elena in order to get to us."

"So what do you recommend we do," Elena asked, standing up from her seat on one of the couches and folding her arms across her chest nervously. "Cause I really don't like the idea that there is someone out there parading around pretending to be me."

"Once she starts stealing your boyfriend than you should worry," Ally continued to add her own commentary while pouring herself another glass of bourbon. "Until then just bask in the ignorance of not knowing whatever she is planning."

Damon lifted the second glass out of the woman's hand. "I don't think Katherine is our only problem. This Mason Lockwood character seems very… fishy." He turned to look at Ally lifting one eyebrow as if tempting her to pour yet another glass.

"Maybe we can hit two birds with one stone," Alaric said joining in the conversation. He had been called by Stefan as soon as the group had left the carnival. "I can go to Whitmore to look through Isobel's research. Maybe there's something in her old office that may be of use."

"Great idea, Ric. I'll go with you," Damon volunteered. "And we'll bring the lovely yet annoying Ally so I can make sure she stays away from my alcohol."

Ally shook her head. "Not that I wouldn't love to spend the day rifling through old files with the town's lushy vampire and the vampire slaying history teacher, I think I'll stay in Mystic Falls with Bonnie. Take Elena. Get her out of here for a day while her boyfriend stealing evil twin is in town."

"That's not such a bad idea," Elena agreed. "If Katherine shows up while I'm gone at least you will know it's not me. Plus I want to see what I can find about Katherine's history. Maybe Isobel did research on her."

"I'll come with you as well," Stefan volunteered, not liking that Elena would be going on a road trip with his brother.

"No," Elena said stepping over to Stefan. "I think you should stay here to help train Caroline. She needs to learn how to control her vampire urges and what better person than someone who knows firsthand how difficult the blood lust can be."

"Just what the world needs, another bunny eater," Damon murmured. Ally back handed him in the shoulder for his comment.

"Fine. Damon and Elena will go," Stefan sighed, knowing Elena cared more about her friend being safe than her own safety with Damon.

Everyone in the room turned to Ric to see his thoughts on the plan. He looked as though he didn't like having the two additional people accompanying him, but he eventually agreed. "Alright, I'll make the arrangements. We'll leave tomorrow morning. But Damon if you do one thing to piss me off in between now and then—"

Rolling his eyes Damon said, "I know, attempt to kill me and not allow me to go."

"Good. Glad we're on the same page." Alaric glared looking straight at Damon. "It's already one in the morning. I'm going to go home and then I'll make the arrangements for the next morning. Eight A.M. sharp." Alaric was the first one of the group to leave the house in order to sleep before start his preparations for the road trip to his wife's office.

"I think I've had enough of all of this as well." Bonnie had not said anything since seeing the person she considered to be an older sister get stabbed and almost die… again. But now she broke her silence in order to go home to be alone. "Are you going to come with me, Ally?"

"Actually, Bonnie," Stefan spoke before either Bonnie or Ally were able to leave. "I think we need to create a daylight ring for Caroline before… you know… dawn."

Bonnie looked over to the opposite side of the boarding house living room to see her friend in sitting in the corner rocking back and forth chanting about being a murderer. "I don't know if I want to do that. She killed someone."

"Bonnie please. She is your friend," Stefan pleaded. "You can't just let her be trapped in her own house. Like Elena asked, I will train her to control her blood urges."

"The only ones who should fear are the bunnies of the world," Damon joked under his breath, but Ally heard the comment and away hit him.

"Don't be such an ass, Damon," Ally chided.

"Don't be such a goody-goody," Damon argued in return.

"Don't be so condescending."

"Stop," Stefan groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "If neither of you have anything productive to say than I ask you both to kindly _shut up_."

"Oh, my little brother growing a little bit of a backbone." Damon raised his hands up in mock surrender after noticing the glare from everyone in the room. "Okay, okay. I can tell when I am not wanted. If any of you need me, I'll be in my bedroom." Before Damon ascended the stairs he winked at Ally.

"Pig," Ally spat in an attempt to hide her disappointment that her verbal sparring partner was leaving the group.

"No I'm a vampire," Damon called behind him, having heard Ally's comment.

When Damon had closed his door, not that it would stop him from overhearing anything with his vampire hearing, Elena turned to Bonnie. "Bonnie, please. This is Caroline. She has been our best friend since our elementary school days."

"Fine. I'll find an appropriate ring tonight and then we can do the spell as I find everything I need," Bonnie said giving in, no longer able to take seeing the pleading brown eyes of Elena Gilbert. However, Bonnie's apprehension to involving herself was still quite obvious. The last time she was in this situation, her grandmother had died because of getting involved with the supernatural vampire business.

"What? What happens when the sun comes up in the morning, Bonnie, and I fry to death," Caroline complained. "What am I supposed to do if you cannot find a daylight ring? I'll never have a social life again."

"You're lucky I'm even considering giving you another chance. Think of it as a trial period. If you can last the night without killing anyone then I'll do the spell." Bonnie turned on her heels leaving the boarding house. No other words were spoken, only the whimpering of the blonde vampire.

* * *

"Now is the time when I explain the rules. The witch who spells the ring has the ability to despell it. And if you kill someone I will not hesitate to take you out." Bonnie had met Stefan and Caroline, as well as a slightly grumpy Ally, at Caroline's house a couple of days later. Damon and Elena were out with Ric trying to find anything useful about Katherine where Ric's wife used to do her research. It had taken Bonnie and Ally a while to find a lapis lazuli stone to set in a ring, but they had found one in a box of Sheila's possessions.

"Bonnie, lighten up a bit. This is one of your best friends."

"She's already killed someone, Stefan. The only reason I don't try to kill you is because of Elena and Ally." Bonnie did not want to deal with this, but she did not want one of her best friend's to die because she chose not to do something about it.

Ally dropped her voice even though she was aware she would still be perfectly heard by the vampire company in the room. "Everyone in this room, aside from you, has killed. I won't let you join the morbid killing club, even if it is to kill a vampire. A kill is a kill and it can alter your life forever. Believe me, I know."

"Fine." Bonnie placed the ring in a small sliver of sunlight on the bed where Caroline sat. The ring began to float up into the air as Bonnie muttered her incantations. When she was done the ring dropped back onto the bed.

"There it's done." Bonnie picked up the ring and tossed it at Caroline.

Caroline fumbled with the ring for a second before examining it. "This is the ring I have to wear for the rest of my life? Couldn't I have at least chosen something prettier?"

"If you don't want a daylight ring you can live in the shadows for all I care," Bonnie said, folding her arms across her chest. "Ally she doesn't want it. Let's just get out of here."

"She wants it," Stefan said, trying to stop Bonnie before she left the house. "It's a small price to pay, Caroline. Just be thankful she is doing this for you at all."

"How do we know this even works," Caroline said as she placed the ring on her right index finger. Bonnie threw open the blinds causing Caroline to scream in fright as the sunlight touched her skin. However, nothing happened.

"It worked."

"Thank you, Bonnie," Stefan said.

"Just remember, I can reverse the spell." Bonnie paused slightly before saying, "So don't kill anyone, Care. I really don't want to lose someone else I love." What she had said was true. She did not want to lose another person she cared about after losing her Grams. It would take some time for the young witch to get used to her friend being a blood thirsty vampire. "I'm going to go. Ally, make sure nothing bad happens."

Ally nodded, giving Bonnie a hug. "I'm proud of you, kid."

Once Bonnie was gone, Stefan had escorted Caroline to the forest to begin her 'newbie vampire boot camp' as Ally had dubbed.

Stefan had spent the better part of an hour trying to explain the heightened emotions and feelings of a vampire, but he was being met with some resistance. "I care deeply for people and if they hurt, I felt their pain. When I became a vampire that was all amplified."

"So you're saying by becoming a vampire everything I was before will be amplified. So I'll be an over-emotional control freak!" Caroline began frantically pacing back and forth on the verge of a vampire sized panic attack.

"I didn't say that," Stefan stated slowly, trying to remain calm himself. He had confidence that Caroline was going to be able to handle her new abilities and emotions, but it was proving difficult with her current personality to make her believe it as well.

"You didn't have to say it, Stefan. I can see it on your face. Oh, God!" Caroline threw her hands over her face as she continued to pace back and forth.

"Caroline relax. I've known you for years," Ally said trying to redirect Caroline's self loathing. "And from what I have seen the young woman standing in front of me is confident, organized, disciplined."

"I'm none of those things."

Ally chuckled. "Are you kidding? You are Miss Mystic Falls. You have single handedly planed more successful events in this town than the combined years Stefan and I have been alive. Imagine how much easier that will be for you now. With that combination of heightened emotions you can be one of the strongest beings to walk this earth."

Caroline seemed to hear something Ally had said and she stopped her pacing momentarily. "You really think I can do this."

"Of course we do. If I honestly thought you were a threat to Bonnie or Elena or anyone else in this town I would have taken drastic measures to stop you," Ally said putting a reassuring hand on Caroline's shoulder. The young vampire nodded, quickly wiping away her tears. "Alright, let's do this."

Stefan gave Ally a small appreciative smile before turning to Caroline. "Okay. The first thing you need to learn is how to use your hearing to find an animal…" Stefan continued to explain how to properly hunt and drink animal blood. Once she had gotten the hang of catching and feeding off of animals—with only a few complaints about how 'disgusting' animal blood was—Caroline was granted permission to go to a party down on the Lockwood property.

"Why do you have so much trust in me," Stefan asked as they wandered the outskirts of the party, allowing Caroline some semblance of freedom. "You trusted me enough to help Caroline and you convinced Bonnie to make her a daylight ring because I thought it would be a good idea."

"I trust you because you have a good moral compass and a good judgment of people. You are probably one of the vampires with the most humanity, I have ever met," Ally said, walking next to Stefan, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jeans.

"You know a lot of vampires?"

"I wouldn't say a lot, but I have known my fair share. It's not easy for me to make friends with vampires; after they get to know me a bit, they tend to want to kill me."

"What? Are you a vampire hunter or something?"

"I rather avoid vampires than hunt them."

"But you are willingly spending time with me and you know I am a vampire."

"It's because I know you Stefan. You couldn't hurt me even if you had the chance."

"And how have you come to that conclusion."

"Because you would do anything for Elena and since I am close with her best friend and her Aunt, you have put me on your protection list."

Stefan was about to say something, but he paused. A look of concern surfacing before becoming blatant panic. "Blood—" He took off in the direction of the smell as Ally quickly followed after. "Caroline, stop!"

They could see the newest vampire's head tucked into Matt Donovan's neck. The thick aroma of blood filled the air the closer Stefan and Ally got to the pair.

"Caroline stop! You're going to kill him."

"Oh my God. Matt? I'm soo soo sorry," Caroline said pulling away from Matt as she realized what she was doing.

"Y-you bit me. You w-were drinking my blood," Matt stuttered out, clearly shaken up about his girlfriend sucking out his blood.

"Compell him, Care," Stefan encouraged. "Just like I taught you."

"What the hell, Care." Matt was starting to panic.

"Compell him, Caroline," Stefan repeated.

With a whimper, Caroline looked into Matt's eyes, her own dilating as she compelled him. "We were kissing. I was trying to be playful by pushing you back. You fell, and tripped, cutting yourself on a fallen branch."

"We were kissing. You were being playful. I tripped, falling onto a branch."

"Now go home and put a bandage on that."

The three watched as Matt hurried away, clutching his hand to his neck. Once he was out of sight Ally rounded on Caroline. "Care, what were you thinking? We let you go to the party to have a bit of human exposure not to maul your boyfriend in the middle of a forest."

"I messed up. I am so sorry. I didn't want to hurt him. I would never… You're not going to tell Bonnie are you," Caroline pleaded. She had gone back to pacing like she had earlier.

"No, neither of us are going to tell Bonnie," Stefan soothed, taking Caroline by the shoulders to stop her. "We care about you and don't want anything to happen to you. That includes exposing that you're a vampire to the wrong person."

"I am so sorry."

"We know you are," Ally said with a sigh, wrapping her arm around the blonde's shoulders. "This town is dangerous for supernatural beings. Always has been and probably always will be." Caroline dropped her head into Ally's comforting embrace. "I'll protect you, Care. However, if you ever bit me, I'll bite you back and believe me you don't want that."

The young blonde let out a quiet laugh through her tears. It had been a long and trying day for her, but she was grateful for her friend's new guardian to watch over her as well.

As they walked, they kept the conversation light. Stefan told some of his more humorous vampire slip ups when he was with Lexi and Ally would tell the cleaned up versions of some of her worldly adventures after she left home. Ally was in the middle of telling the story about her time in South America studying a tribe of natives for her thesis. She had just gotten to the part about meeting a suave, well dressed, writer when she suddenly stopped walking, her words trailing off.

Ally could sense something just up ahead. A sudden cry—not quite human but not quite beast—rang through the air. "Shit," Ally swore, her head taking a sharp turn to look up at the full moon. She could feel it now, the ache in her joints. The feeling that her two companions were in danger.

"Stefan, stop. No good can come from looking inside that truck." Ally unwound her arm from Caroline and tried to pull Stefan away from the truck they had just stumbled upon. There were noises coming from inside the enclosed back.

"Stefan, c'mon." Ally continued to pull at Stefan's arm so he wouldn't get any closer to

danger inside the truck.

"Something doesn't feel right," Stefan said as he tried to fight against Ally's strong grasp holding him back.

Suddenly the back window of the covered truck burst, shards of glass exploding in all directions of the forest floor. An angry wolf stood among the debris, growly fiercely at the trio.

The wolf was about to charge towards them, when Ally shoved Stefan roughly behind her. "No! Back," Ally yelled, holding her hand out in front of her. The wolf seemed to have frozen at the command only temporarily before it slowly advanced forward.

"Stop," Ally yelled at the wolf again as it hunkered down ready to pounce. Again it seemed hesitant, as if almost obeying the woman's authority. But once more it appeared to be fighting the urge to lunge forward in attack. "Submit, damn it!" However, the wolf had chosen not to submit.

"Ally, it's no use. We have to get out of here," Stefan tried to urge. He stepped forward to grab Ally so they could leave, but the wolf growled louder, stopping him. "C'mon, Ally."

Ally shook her head at Stefan's pleas. She knew she had one two options; allow the wolf to assume dominance and kill the two vampires behind her or do the one thing she was hoping to avoid for another six or so years. When the wolf took another step forward, Ally made her decision.

She could hear the growls of the wolf every time she lost eye contact with it as quickly stripped down to her underwear, leaving her clothes in a pile on the ground. She was sure if Damon had been with them and witnessed her in only her undergarments, he would have made some comment about the word 'juicy' written across her panties.

"Ally, what are you doing," Stefan hissed, not sure if he should be more terrified of the wolf or the fact that the woman in front of him began taking off her clothes for no reason.

"This wolf needs to be shown who's the alpha," Ally explained, her eyes still trained on the wolf in front of her. She reached up to her neck and slowly took off her necklace, dropping it onto her pile of clothes. "Stefan, you will only have a few seconds to get out of here. You and Caroline run as fast as you can back to the boarding house. I'll be able to hold off, Mr. growls-a-lot once I turn."

"Ally, what are you talking—"

"STEFAN, GO," Ally screamed as though she was in pain, she broke eye contact with the wolf momentarily to look at Stefan. Her eyes flashing yellow as she did so. "GO!" Her last word came out more of a growl.

Stefan, finally understanding what Ally was doing, grabbed Caroline and immediately started running. He only turned to look back when he hear Ally scream out in pain again followed by a loud roar. He no longer saw a brunette woman standing in front of a hungry wolf, but down two wolves brutally fighting for dominance.

* * *

**A/N: Hi Everyone!  
What do you think about Ally now? Where you surprised? Would you have rather have had someone else find out how Ally was involved in the supernatural world? Why do you think she didn't turn when the full moon hit it's peak?**

**Drop a review. I'd love to hear your theories, comments, and/or suggestions!**

**Thanks for sticking with this story for so long! I appreciate the support of everyone who reads, follows, favorites, and reviews. You are all awesome!**

**Always,**  
**orangezauber**


	14. Chapter 14: The lovers

**Chapter 14**

* * *

Ally woke up to a pounding headache. She slowly opened her eyes trying to remember the events of the previous night. Everything came crashing back when she realized she was lying naked in the middle of the forest. "Oh, man. I hate going commando," she muttered keeping an ear out for anyone in the vicinity who might see her in all of her naked glory while she tried to locate her clothes.

It didn't take her long to find her lost garments and slip back into them, thanking herself for having the insight into wearing a camisole with extra support the day before. The clothes had surprisingly not been disturbed from her rather physical altercation for dominance with the werewolf form of Mason Lockwood. While refastening her necklace, feeling her headache diminish once the necklace was safely around her neck.

A smile appeared on her face when she heard a human moan from not far away, remembering she had forced Mason Lockwood to retreat back into truck with his tail between his legs, like an ashamed dog retreating into his kennel after his owner yelled at him.

Ally went into the cab of the truck pulling out a back pack she was sure held Mason's clothes for after his moonlight transformation. She tossed the pack into the rear of the truck, resting her arms on the edge of the broken window. "Rise and Shine, Beta," Ally chirped, clearly amused by the annoyed groans from the man inside.

"You bitch," Mason sneered, pulling on a pair of pants.

"Technically you are correct." Ally's smile widened. "However, it the way you meant it, that is not the proper way to speak to your Alpha."

"You are not my Alpha," Mason spat, pulling his head through the top hole in his shirt.

"Oh honey, don't be like that." Ally cooed, tilting her head to the side. "Don't you want to be part of my pack?" When Mason didn't reply Ally sighed, turning slightly more serious. "Listen, you put up a good fight last night. I have to confess, I underestimated your determination and strength. Something I definitely won't do again."

Ally lifted her arms off of the back of the truck and pulled it open, allowing Mason to leave the enclosure.

When Mason emerged he openly stretched, multiple joints popping as he did so. "I admit, I underestimated you as well. That is why I fought so hard once I realized how much stronger you were than me."

"like it or not, I did win our little battle. Therefore, I am the Alpha in this relationship."

"Fine. You beat my ass… _Alpha._"

"Hopefully now, you won't forget that." Ally winked. "I think we got off to a wrong start. Ally Whitworth." Ally held out her hand to Mason.

"Mason Lockwood," Mason said returning the gesture and shaking Ally's hand. "You must be Jenna's friend. She's told me a lot about you."

"I'm assuming by the way you said that, it's not all good things."

"Nah. She seems to think we are perfect for each other." Ally laughed at the suggestive way Mason said Jenna thought they 'would be perfect together.'

"Well, we did have quite the intimate meeting last night."

Mason laughed in return. "You are quite the spit-fire Jenna described. I can see us getting along very well."

"I prefer 'Bad Ass Bitch' to 'spit-fire,'" Ally replied causing both of them to howl with laughter. Pun intended.

Ally had intended on returning to her own place for a shower and then go Bonnie's house to check in with her after waking up and talking to Mason earlier in the morning, however, Ally had received an S.O.S. text from Jenna asking her to come over.

"Jen, it's before noon. This 'save our souls' text better be legit because I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm a little cranky," Ally announced, walking into the Gilbert house.

"Alaric thought it would be a good idea to have a little get together," Jenna said rusing into the living room like a whirl-wind picking up abandoned shoes and dishes. "So now I have to get the house picked up before people get here."

"You agree to doing this and decided I would want to help you clean? Oh, sweetie," Ally said patting Jenna on the head like one would a dog, "I thought you knew better than to ask my assistance in cleaning anything."

"Just be a good friend and led me a hand," Jenna rolled her eyes while using one of the shoes in her hand to lightly hit Ally in the side. "The guys are supposed to get here at four and then Carol Lockwood somehow convinced me to play hostess to this writer who is doing an expose on the town and he is supposed to be coming over at some point as well to look at some of Grayson's old town keepsakes." Jenna didn't take a breath as she explained what was causing her distress.

"Jen, breath," Ally coaxed, placing her hands on her friend's shoulders. "You won't see the end of the day if you don't remember to breath. We still have hours before anyone gets here. Now tell me what needs to be done food-wise because Chief Ally is in the house."

Jenna quickly explained what was needed for dinner. Alaric had agreed to handle the grill, but salads and desserts still needed to be made.

"If that is Alaric, I'm going to kill him as soon as he walks through that door. I told him to get here at three and it's fifteen after," Jenna yelled from the kitchen. "You get the door, Als. I'm trying to finish something in here because Alaric couldn't be bothered to be here on time to set up the grill."

"Fine, it's not like this isn't my house or anything," Ally sarcastically yelled back but did as her friend asked. Upon opening the door, she was shocked to see a handsome man, with warm brown eyes, in a smart suit.

The man looked equally shocked, but he was able to recover quickly. "Well, hello, Hattie. I didn't suspect you would be living here."

"I go by Ally here," Ally said, glaring at the man for using that name. However, she couldn't stop the smile that crept up on her face. "What are you doing here, _Eli_?"

"A bit of business. I'm doing an exposé on small town life and the rich history of certain locations," the man Ally called Eli said, a small smile gracing his own face as he looked Ally up and down slowly.

"Uh huh, So I've heard. I didn't expect you to be the writer Jenna mentioned" Ally smirked in return. Ally quickly looked back into the house to make sure Jenna was occupied before stepping out onto the porch and closing the door behind her.

"Disappointed," Eli questioned, his smile never leaving his face.

"Can't say I'm complaining. However, you had a much better cover story in South America… 'An expose on the protection of wolf tribes in South America.' Definitely a more interesting topic."

"Perhaps," Eli chuckled, taking a step towards Ally. "It is lovely to see you again, _Ally_, even if you do smell more like wolf than I remember."

"I had to turn last night." Ally waved her hand gesturing as turning into her werewolf alter ego was a normal occurrence, which Eli knew was not. "Eli, what are you really doing here?"

Eli held up his hand to stop Ally. "I assure you, I am only here to observe. There are rumors that the doppelganger lives… And I can see by the protective look in your beautiful eyes that she does reside here."

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, E. You know that," Ally laughed. "But yes, she is my best friend's niece. I won't let any harm come to her."

"I have no doubt of your loyalty, but you could be in grave danger if the wrong people find out the truth about the doppelganger." Eli brushed the back of his hand along Ally's cheek affectionately as he spoke.

"Careful, Eli, you never know who's watching," Ally said, gently removing Eli's hand from her cheek.

"Hmm, like a certain surfing werewolf, or a blue-eyed vampire perhaps." Eli smiled knowingly.

"Have you been spying on me," Ally playfully scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Call it, morose curiosity."

"Ally, are you out here," Jenna called when she opened the front door to check if her friend was outside. Her eyes widened when she did find her friend standing a little closer than normal to a gorgeous, sandy-haired, chocolate eyed, man in a very smart looking suit.

Jenna just stared wide eyed at the handsome stranger until her friend cleared her throat. "Jenna, this is Elijah Smith. Eli, this is my friend Jenna."

Jenna snapped out of her daze, holding out her hand for Elijah to shake. "Right! You're the one wanting to write a book about Mystic Falls."

"Yes, that is correct. Carol Lockwood told me you had some historical items I could look through to gather inspiration for my book. I hope this is not an inconvenient time."

"No. Not at all. I pulled a bunch of the stuff earlier when Carol called. Please come in."

Ally caught the small smile from Elijah as he stepped across the threshold. He briefly touched Ally's arm as he walked passed.

"These are some of the Gilbert family documents and among them are some of the family heirlooms. Feel free to parooze, Mr. Smith. There's a lot to dig through."

"Please call me, Elijah."

"Of course. Take as much time as you need, Elijah." As soon as she said his name, something flashed behind her eyes. She quickly turned to Ally, grabbing her by the arm and tugged her towards the kitchen. "We'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."

Once they were in the kitchen, Jenna turned on her friend whispering harshly, "Elijah? As in Eli… As in THE Eli? The guy you hooked up with in South America and said was some of the best—"

Ally quickly stepped on Jenna's toes to make her shut up, knowing that Elijah could hear the two of them perfectly well regardless of their hushed voices. "Yes," Ally hissed, turning behind her to check to see if Elijah had heard. Which he had as evident by the smirk he was trying to hide while pretending to look through the boxes. "Now, shut up about it."

"Actually, ladies, I must be on my way. This was just to be a quick visit," Elijah interrupted, a smile still sitting on his handsome features. "Do you mind if I take the boxes with me? I promise to return them in pristine condition."

"Sure. That's not a problem; take whatever you need," Jenna smiled a little too big after figuring out this was the man responsible for Ally having such a _good time_ in South America. "Although, if you are interested, Elijah, I'm having some people over for a BBQ in a little bit. You are more than welcome to join."

"I'm afraid I must take a rain check. I have a couple of appointments today. But I sincerely appreciate the offer," Elijah politely declined, with an appreciative tilt of his head. "_Ally_, do you mind showing me out?"

Ally rolled her eyes at his continued emphasis of her name. "Sure." She leaves the kitchen with Elijah, fully knowing Jenna is behind them with the largest grin plastered on her face.

Elijah picked up a box off the table before leaving the house, Ally trailing behind. "In all honesty, it can't be good that you're here, Eli," Ally said leaning against Elijah's car with her arms crossed, while he put the box in the back seat.

"Perhaps, I was missing your presence. You did leave South America quite abruptly."

Ally brushed off the man's comment. "No, you're looking for something else and don't give me that curiosity speech about finding a doppelganger."

"It will all be revealed in due time," Elijah said with a cryptic smile.

"Elijah," Ally said, giving the well dressed man in front of her a significant look.

With a stern sigh, Elijah relented. "I'm here for the same reason I was in South America."

"The moonstone?"

Elijah nodded. "If I can locate it then I can take it as far from the doppelganger as possible."

"Are we in danger here?"

"Not to worry," Elijah caught Ally's meaning and ran a hand affectionately down Ally's arm in reassurance. "No harm shall come to you or your friends. I am a man of my word." He gently pushed Ally to the side in order to get into his car.

As he drove off, Ally wondered if she could trust Elijah and if what he had said was true. The moonstone could mean a certain death if it fell into the wrong hands and Ally hoped that it wasn't in Mystic Falls.

"So, your Eli, is in town," Jenna smirked wickedly when her friend re-entered the house. "What are the chances, huh? Unless he came to see you."

Ally rolled her eyes. "He always has an ulterior motive. He certainly didn't come here for me."

"I saw the way he looked at you. The way he caressed your arm out by the car…"

"You are so depraved," Ally laughed, throwing a hand towel from the counter at her friend. "Now if you excuse me, I am going to borrow your shower before your guests arrive."

"You need a shower because Mr. Tall-handsome-and-elegant got you all hot and bothered," Jenna teased, fanning herself.

"I am so going commando in your clothes," Ally called walking slowly up the stairs.

"Ew," Jenna screamed laughing. "You do and I'll kill you."

The doorbell rang and Alaric let himself in. "Jenna? I'm sorry I'm late but…"

"No," Ally yelled when Jenna pushed past Alaric and chased her up the stairs. "No, go entertain your boyfriend."

"Stay away from my clothes!"

"Am I missing something," Alaric asked with amusement when his girlfriend knocked her friend down, pulled off her friend's sock and began beating her with it.

"Alaric! Control your woman," Ally laughed trying to block the assault against her head with her own sock.

* * *

"Alright so it looks like we have more than enough food for six people." Ally smiled, putting the last side-dish on the counter.

"Seven," Jenna corrected, pulling out three shot glasses from the cupboard.

"Seven? There is you and I…Alaric and Mason," Ally said counting off each person on her fingers. "I told you Bonnie didn't feel up to coming and Eli turned us down. Then you told Elena she could have a plus one, so she invited Caroline. That's six."

"Caroline is not the plus one I am worried about." Ally raised her eyebrows waiting for Jenna to explain who the additional person was. With a heavy sigh, Jenna replied. "Apparently Damon is coming."

"Don't look at me I didn't invite him. Never met the guy.," Mason held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Alaric did because apparently he is a pity-taker," Elena replied as she stepped into the kitchen to grab the bowl of potato chips on the counter.

"Come on Jenna, play nice," Ally playfully scolded pouring her friend, Mason, and herself another drink. "I'm sure Alaric felt left out he didn't have a date since you invited Mason."

"Mason is not my date," Jenna exclaimed in exasperation, downing her shot with a slight twitch as the alcohol crossed her tongue. "He's your date."

"Mason could ever handle me," Ally said with a wink in Mason's direction. He chuckled in response.

"I just wish Damon learns to keep his paws off of you and stops acting like such an arrogant dick," Jenna scoffed.

"I think you are wishing too much from him."

"Well, he better not mess up my plans. I have high hopes for you and Mason."

"I thought you were rooting for me and Eli earlier this afternoon."

"Well, I am, but only if you and Mason don't work out."

"Here that, Second Fiddle, she already has a back up for me," Ally said turning to Mason.

Mason shrugged playing along. "We had something special last night. I might just have to continue fighting."

"Perhaps when you have a little more rough and a little less tumble, Beta," Ally replied, pouring everyone a shot.

Jenna's eyes widened. "Wait, are you guys implying what I think you're implying?"

Mason said before Ally could reply. "That Ally and I spent the night together, then yes."

"Oh my God! Is that why you wanted to take a shower before everyone got here? Because you didn't have time this morning because you had sex with Mason. And here I thought, I would get to play matchmaker!"

"Yes, I was with Mason. No, we did not sleep together," Ally glared at Mason's smug look. "We met last night at the party on the Lockwood property. There was about to be a fight between Mason and some other guy. I intervened and gave him the bitch slap of the century."

"Why were you about to fight with someone," Jenna asked with interest, sipping her drink.

Mason shrugged. "I guess I didn't like his hair."

The doorbell rang again, but no one got up to get it. Jenna looked expectantly at Ally.

"Really? This isn't even my house," Ally said getting up, stealing Jenna's freshly poured shot and downing it.

"And here I thought you only stole drinks from me." Damon entered the kitchen without waiting for anyone to invite him in.

When neither Ally nor Jenna said anything, Mason took it upon himself to be introduced. "Hey. I'm Mason Lockwood." Mason held out his hand for Damon to shake.

"Damon Salvatore," Damon introduced, clutching Mason's hand, trying to act friendly.

"I've hurt a lot of great things about you."

"That's weird because I'm a dick," Damon said with one of his most charming smiles while throwing an arm over Ally's shoulder.

"It's true. He really is," Ally agreed, ducking under the dark haired vampire's arm., but Damon didn't allow her to get too far.

"See. Even my girl, won't even sugar coat it," Damon said giving Ally's shoulders a tight squeeze pulling her further into his side. "That's why I can't get enough of her."

"Oh wow, you two are dating?" Mason looked between the two with amusement when Ally answered "no" at the same time Damon answered "yes."

"Haven't had the 'boyfriend/girlfriend' talk yet. I got cha." Mason winked.

"No. We haven't gotten to the civilized, me not wanting to kill him part yet." Ally elbowed Damon in the side making him wince.

"She wants me," Damon stage whispered to Mason, while sending a wink in Ally's direction. Ally rolled her eyes in return.

"You know what I want," Jenna said, handing the two men each a stack of plates. "I want you to actually be useful and set the table."

"Gladly, Jenna. I bought some cobbler for dessert… it's peach," Damon said with his most charming smile.

"Ally already made dessert," Jenna curtly replied, clearly not impressed with the gesture of bringing cobbler.

Damon didn't get the opportunity to make a rely when Alaric had come in from the back yard to announce that the burgers were done.

**o*O*o*O*o**

After dinner, all the adults were surrounding the kitchen island taking shots and asking 'get to know you questions.' Elena and Caroline had left for the Salvatore boardinghouse because Elena was worried about Stefan's strange behavior.

"So, I have good one," Mason spoke, an evil grin appearing on his face. "How old were you when you first had sex? I was seventeen and it was the lovely Eva Carson."

"I bet you liked giving it to her _doggy_ style," Damon muttered under his breath just loud enough for Mason pick up. He sent a smirk in Mason's direction at the innuendo. Ally having picking up on what Damon said, smacked him upside the head.

"The head cheerleader with a stick up her ass," Jenna questioned with a scoff, clearly not hearing Damon's side comment nor caring that her best friend just slapped him. Jenna's drunkenness was becoming more evident as the questions perused through the evening. "She was such a slag, not really any accomplishment sleeping with her."

Damon again muttered under his breath. "I bet you were _howling_ her name all night." This time Ally punched his leg with inhuman strength causing Damon to wince slightly.

Alaric was unaware of the comments Damon was making as he laughed awkwardly just thinking about the possibility of Jenna hooking up with Mason. "Did the two of you ever get together?"

"Nah," Mason replied. "She was too lost in Logan Fell land to pay attention to me. Her first time was our senior year with Logan."

"What!? How could you possibly know that, you pervert." Jenna threw some of her cobbler crust at Mason's head.

"He was practically bragging for a whole month in the locker room that he 'snatched your snatch.'"

"Oh my god! No wonder the guys on the lacrosse team were trying to get into my pants all year."

"Yeah, you have Logan to thank for that."

"That good for nothing piece of scum. If I ever see him again I'll kill him."

"I was 19," Alaric interrupted Jenna's humiliation. "I did it with a girl in my Revolutionary History class."

"No wonder you're a history buff now," Ally giggled into glass of wine earning a playful glare from Alaric.

Not wanting to be ignored, Damon chimed in with his first experience. "Eighteen. I had enlisted with the military and we went out one night. Had a few drinks under the radar, of course. There was a pretty girl at the bar. One thing led to another and we did the deed."

"I didn't know you were a military man. You don't really seem the type," Alaric looked at his friend skeptically.

"I wasn't, I was only in there for a short while. They tried to send me off to war, but I had met another girl back home and was having too much fun with her so I never went back. Got dishonorably discharged, but why fight in a war you don't agree with? How about you, Ally? When was your first time?" Damon immediately rounded on Ally, wanting her to give some information about being Hattie. He had always had a sneaking suspicion that she and Stefan had hooked up from time to time way back when.

"I'd rather not say," Ally said, taking another sip of her wine.

"Is it because you have never gotten any," Alaric teased. "You make fun of my being nineteen. Perhaps you have never had that card taken."

"There is no way she would have never had sex. The sex stories she tells are way too believable and funny to not be true. In fact one of her former lovers showed up toda—"

"I was sixteen," Ally quickly interrupted Jenna sending her a glare which clearly said not to bring up Elijah's visit earlier. Bringing up Elijah was not something Ally thought would be a good idea considering present company.

"And who was it that deflowered you at the young age of sixteen?" Damon raised one eyebrow in anticipation for Ally's answer.

Ally shook her head. "That wasn't part of the original question. The question asked was how old were we when we each had sex for the first time. I don't have to say anymore."

"Aw, come on, Ally. All of us shared. How are we supposed to get to know you if you aren't going to be a team player," Mason chided, pouring more wine into Ally's nearly half full glass.

"You gave that information willingly," Ally pointed out, slapping his hand away from her glass.

"Fine if you won't say it than my next question will be who was the first person you had sex with," Mason said holding his hands up in mock surrender, but not losing the smug look on his face.

Ally glared at the trio around the table knowing they were not about to give up until she gave them some semblance of an answer. "It was my best friend, okay?" She crossed her arms against her chest, sitting back in her chair with a 'humph.'

"Oh, first experience was girl-on-girl, kinky." Damon smirked looking between Ally and Jenna. "Bet that gets your tail wagging, eh, Mason."

"Don't look at me. I didn't know her until a few years ago in college. Although, if you keep plying me with alcohol I might be willing to…" Jenna trailed off giving Ally a significant and a very happy-go-tipsy look.

Ally snorted. "My best friend at the time was a guy. He gave me a piece of jewelry and we had sex. There. You have my story."

"What's his name?"

"No. I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of being able to look him up to see what he looks like."

"He's still alive then?"

Ally glared at Damon. She knew what he was getting at, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of a name."What the hell is that supposed to mean? Of course, he is still alive."

"Yeah, Damon, that was a really random question. Why would you assume her first lover be dead," Alaric questioned.

"No, reason." Damon shrugged as though he was asking a normal question.

"You sound a bit jealous, friend," Mason chided.

"Why would I be," Damon asked, not liking that the new comer was questioning him.

"No, no, I agree with Mason. You do sound jealous." Ally teased, leaning forward to pinch Damon's cheeks.

"How did you two become all buddy-buddy in such a short time?" Damon was already very suspicious about Mason being a werewolf and he didn't like how close he and Ally seemed to have become recently.

"It's because they spent the night together last night," Jenna blurted out.

"Jenna," Ally screamed immediately retracting her fingers from Damon's cheeks.

Jenna giggled and shrugged. "What? I'm past the point of tipsy. I'm at the stage of the drinking where I share too much about the people around me to hide my own secrets."

It wasn't long before Mason looked at his phone. "I should get going." He turned to Jenna giving her a peck on the cheek thanking her for having him over and then shaking Alaric's hand stating they should watch some sort of 'ball game' the following week.

"You coming out with me for a post barbeque drink, Ally." Mason leaned forward to give her a friendly kiss on the cheek like he did with Jenna, but Damon intervened by pulling Ally to his side.

"Don't slobber on my girl."

"Yeah, Beta-Boo. Keep your paws to yourself," Ally chuckled, pushing Damon's arm off her shoulders for what seemed like the one-hundredth time that night. She offered the male wolf a wave and wink indicating she would not be joining him for a drink. He nodded in understanding and left.

"Well, I'm ready for bed," Jenna announced with slurred words once Mason had gone. "Als, if you could finish cleaning up that would be great. C'mon, Alaric." She grabbed Ric's hand and pulled him up the staircase. Ric sent an apologetic look towards the remaining two, biding them a good night.

"It's like she thinks I actually live here," Ally sighed making her way into the kitchen to clean up like Jenna sort of asked. She turned on the water and allowed it to fill up the sink before she began the dishes.

Damon silently followed and without a word he took a cloth off the counter in preparation for drying.

"Did you really sleep with the surfer?" Damon broke the silence between them. He hadn't meant to ask so bluntly, but the way Ally and the Mason guy were bantering irked him.

"I don't know how that is any of your business, Damon," Ally said, handing the vampire another dish to dry. "But to answer your question, no."

"Then why did you two seem so close?"

The intensity in his eyes was something Ally remembered vividly. "Jealously isn't like you, Damon… oh, wait, what am I thinking? Jealousy is exactly your color."

"What are you talking about," Damon asked turning his full body towards the woman next to him.

"All the questions about who was my first and the assumptions based on my flirting with Mason. The jealously was just radiating off of you." Ally knew Damon was on the edge of coming straight out and asking if her first sexual partner had been Stefan. It's not like he had any right to be jealous over her first when he played love sick fool to Katherine for over 145 years.

Completely ignoring the accusation of jealously, Damon pulled out his phone to look at the time. "I don't have time to argue with you right now. So I'll catch you tomorrow and we can pick up this little chat tomorrow."

There was a suspicious glint in Damon's crystal blue eyes which sent off warning bells inside Ally's mind. "You're about to go do something completely stupid aren't you," she asked skeptically crossing her arms over her chest.

Damon smirked, pressing one finger against Ally's lips. "Shh, tomorrow, beautiful. I promise."

* * *

**A/N: What do you think Damon will do once he finds out why Ally and Mason are suddenly so close?**

***~*~*~*  
I know Elijah isn't supposed to make his appearance until later, but from now on I will be combining chapters in order to fit my "slightly AU plot" as well as move things along quicker. Let me know if there is a particular scene you would like to see :-)**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys are great!  
Always,  
orangezauber**


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